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It is a positive feature in a publication that the president has consistently praised – with one exception. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's praise to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a image of the president taken from below and with the sun behind his head.

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

"The publication wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the lowest quality in history", he shared on Truth Social.

“They eliminated my hair, and then had a shape drifting on top of my head that looked like a hovering tiara, but an very tiny one. Truly strange! I consistently avoided taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a terrible picture, and deserves to be called out. What is their intention, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown no secret of his desire to be pictured on Time magazine's front page and did so four times last year. This fixation has made it as far as his golf courses – years ago, the magazine asked him to remove fake issues on display at some of his properties.

The latest edition’s photo was shot by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the White House on October 5.

The perspective did no favours for Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that California governor Newsom did not miss, with his communications team sharing an altered image with the offending area blurred.

{The living Israeli hostages in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement may become a major success of Trump's second term, and it might signify a pivotal moment for the region.

Meanwhile, a defense of his portrayal has emerged from a surprising origin: the director of information at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to denounce the "damaging" image choice.

It's amazing: a image reveals far more about those who selected it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people driven by hatred and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", Maria Zakharova posted on her social channel.

"And given the complimentary photos of President Biden that the same publication used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the story is simply self-incriminating for the publication", she said.

The response to Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – may be something to do with artistically representing a impression of strength says an imaging expert, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself technically is good," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted trump to look commanding. Gazing upward gives a sense of their majesty and his expression actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see images of the president in such a calm instance – the image has a softness to it."

The president's hair appears to “disappear” because the rear illumination has overexposed that part of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Although the feature's heading complements his facial expression in the image, "you can’t always please the person photographed."

Few people appreciate being captured from low angles, and while all of the thematic components of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are unflattering."

The news outlet approached the periodical for feedback.