This is a favorable feature in a magazine that Trump has frequently admired – except for one issue. The cover picture, Trump declared, ""could be the worst ever".
Time's praise to the president's involvement in brokering a Gaza ceasefire, headlining its early November edition, was presented alongside a photo of the president taken from below and with the sun shining from the back.
The outcome, Trump claims, is ""terrible".
"Time wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the image may be the most awful ever", the president posted on his social media platform.
“They removed my hair, and then had an object hovering on top of my head that resembled a hovering tiara, but an remarkably little one. Really weird! I always disliked taking pictures from below viewpoints, but this is a extremely poor picture, and merits public condemnation. What are they doing, and why?”
The president has expressed obvious his ambition to appear on Time magazine's front page and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The preoccupation has reached his golf courses – previously, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in some of his properties.
The latest edition’s photo was captured by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on the fifth of October.
The shot's viewpoint did no favours for the president's jawline and throat – an opening that the governor of California Gavin Newsom did not miss, with his press office tweeting a version with the problematic part pixelated.
{The hostages from Israel held in Gaza have been released under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, alongside a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement may become a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a strategic turning point for the region.
Meanwhile, a support for his portrayal has come from unusual quarters: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs intervened to criticise the "revealing" photo selection.
It's remarkable: a photograph exposes those who picked it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people driven by hatred and resentment –possibly even deviants – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the same publication displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for the magazine", she added.
The response to the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a feeling of authority stated by Carly Earl, a media professional.
The image itself technically is good," she notes. "They chose this shot because they wanted Trump to look commanding. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their majesty and Trump’s face actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It's rare you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."
Trump’s hair looks erased because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she says. Although the article's title complements the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the subject matter."
Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and while all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the appearance are not complimentary."
The Guardian reached out to the periodical for a statement.
