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This is a positive story in a magazine that the president has long exalted – with one exception. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's praise to Donald Trump's part in brokering a truce for Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was paired with a image of the president captured from underneath while the sun positioned behind him.

The result, Trump claims, is "super bad".

"The publication wrote a relatively good story about me, but the image may be the most awful ever", the president posted on his preferred network.

“My hair was ‘disappeared’, and then there was a shape over my head that looked like a floating crown, but quite miniature. Very odd! I have never liked being captured from low angles, but this is a awful image, and it deserves to be called out. Why did they choose this, and why?”

Trump has made clear his wish to feature on Time magazine's front page and achieved this multiple times in the past year. This fixation has extended to his golf courses – in 2017, the publication requested to remove fabricated front pages on display at some of his properties.

This issue's photograph was shot by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on the fifth of October.

The shot's viewpoint did no favours for Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that the governor of California Gavin Newsom did not miss, with the governor's office posting a modified photo with the offending area obscured.

{The Israeli captives held in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release. The arrangement could be a major success of his next term, and it may represent a key shift for the region.

At the same time, a support for the president’s appearance has come from an unexpected source: the spokesperson at Moscow's diplomatic office stepped in to criticise the "damaging" image choice.

It's remarkable: a image reveals far more about those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Only sick people, people filled with spite and animosity –possibly even deviants – could have selected such an image", she wrote on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of President Biden that the periodical used on the cover, despite his physical infirmity, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she noted.

The explanation for the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a sense of power stated by a picture editor, a media professional.

The image itself is professionally taken," she says. "They chose this shot because they wanted trump to look commanding. Looking up at a person creates an impression of their importance and his expression actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It's uncommon you see images of the president in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Although the feature's heading marries well with Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

"No one likes being captured from low angles, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The publication reached out to the periodical for a statement.