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It is a positive feature in a magazine that the president has frequently admired – with one exception. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's paean to Trump's role in brokering a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photograph of Trump taken from below while the sun shining from the back.

The effect, he says, is "super bad".

"Time wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", the president posted on Truth Social.

“My hair was erased, and then there was an object above my head that appeared as a hovering crown, but quite miniature. Truly strange! I have consistently disliked being captured from low angles, but this is a awful image, and it merits criticism. Why did they choose this, and why?”

The president has expressed no secret of his desire to feature on Time magazine's front page and accomplished it multiple times in the past year. The obsession has extended to the president's resorts – previously, the magazine asked him to remove mocked up covers exhibited in a few of his establishments.

The latest edition’s photo was taken by a photographer for a news agency at the White House on the fifth of October.

Its angle highlighted negatively the president's jawline and throat – an opportunity that California governor Newsom seized, with his communications team tweeting a version with the criticized section blurred.

{The Israeli captives detained in Gaza have been liberated under the opening part of Trump's ceasefire agreement, alongside a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal may become a signature achievement of his next term, and it might signify a pivotal moment for the region.

Simultaneously, a defense of the president’s appearance has been offered by a surprising origin: the director of information at Moscow's diplomatic office came forward to criticise the "damaging" picture decision.

It's remarkable: a image reveals far more about those who chose it than about the individual pictured. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova shared on Telegram.

"And given the complimentary photos of President Biden that that magazine displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for the magazine", she added.

The response to Trump’s questions – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a feeling of authority says Carly Earl, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself is well-executed," she says. "They chose this shot because they wanted trump to look heroic. Looking up at a person creates an impression of their grandeur and Trump’s face actually looks thoughtful and almost a bit ethereal. It's uncommon you see photos of Trump in such a serene moment – the image has a softness to it."

His hair seems to vanish because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, generating a radiant circle, she explains. And, while the article's title marries well with the president's look in the image, "you can’t always please the individual in question."

Few people appreciate being shot from underneath, and although all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The publication approached the magazine for comment.