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This is a favorable feature in a publication that Trump has consistently praised – with one exception. The magazine's cover photo, he stated, "may be the Worst of All Time".

Time's tribute to the president's involvement in mediating a ceasefire in Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a image of Trump captured from underneath while the sun shining from the back.

The outcome, the president asserts, is ""terrible".

"Time wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time", the president posted on his social media platform.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was an object above my head that looked like a suspended diadem, but very tiny. Really weird! I have consistently disliked being captured from low angles, but this is a super bad image, and it should be denounced. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to feature on Time magazine's front page and achieved this four times last year. The obsession has reached the president's resorts – previously, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in a few of his establishments.

The latest edition’s photo was shot by a photographer for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on 5 October.

The perspective was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – an opportunity that the governor of California Newsom did not miss, with the governor's office posting a modified photo with the offending area blurred.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Trump's ceasefire agreement, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release. The deal may become a signature achievement of Trump's second term, and it may represent a key shift for the region.

At the same time, a support for Trump's image has been offered by an unexpected source: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to condemn the "self-incriminating" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a photo exposes those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Only disturbed individuals, people driven by hatred and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", she wrote on her social channel.

In light of the positive pictures of President Biden that the periodical used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the situation is self-revealing for the publication", she added.

The response to the president's inquiries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a sense of power according to an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is well-executed," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted Trump to look commanding. Gazing upward evokes a feeling of their grandeur and his expression actually looks thoughtful and almost slightly angelic. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a calm instance – the photo appears gentle."

His hair looks erased because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, generating a radiant circle, she explains. Although the article's title marries well with Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being captured from low angles, and although all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the aesthetics are not flattering."

The publication reached out to the periodical for comment.