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It is a favorable feature in a periodical that Donald Trump has consistently praised – with one exception. The magazine's cover photo, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's paean to the president's involvement in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was paired with a photo of Trump taken from below and with the sun shining from the back.

The effect, Trump claims, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", he shared on Truth Social.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one. Truly strange! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a terrible picture, and deserves to be called out. Why did they do this, and why?”

Trump has made clear his wish to feature on Time’s cover and achieved this multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has made it as far as his golf courses – years ago, the editors demanded to remove fake issues shown in several of his venues.

The most recent cover image was captured by a photographer for a news agency at the presidential residence on October 5.

The shot's viewpoint was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – an opening that the governor of California Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with the governor's office posting a modified photo with the criticized section blurred.

{The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been released under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a freeing of Palestinian inmates. This agreement may become a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it might signify a pivotal moment for the Middle East.

At the same time, a defense of the president’s appearance has come from unusual quarters: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to condemn the "revealing" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph says more about those who picked it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people obsessed with malice and resentment –possibly even deviants – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova posted on the messaging platform.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that that magazine featured on the front, even with his age-related challenges, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she noted.

The explanation for his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – might involve innovatively depicting a impression of strength according to a picture editor, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself technically is good," she notes. "They selected this photo because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Looking up at a person gives a sense of their majesty and his expression actually looks contemplative and almost a bit ethereal. It's uncommon you see images of the president in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair looks erased because the rear illumination has overexposed that part of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Even though the feature's heading complements his facial expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and while all of the artistic aspects of the image are highly effective, the aesthetics are not flattering."

The publication contacted Time magazine for comment.