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It is a positive story in a publication that Trump has long exalted – except for one issue. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's paean to Trump's role in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was accompanied by a photograph of the president captured from underneath and with the sun positioned behind him.

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

"Time Magazine wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the image may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was a shape over my head that appeared as a hovering crown, but very tiny. Truly strange! I have never liked being photographed from below, but this is a super bad image, and it deserves to be called out. What is their goal, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to appear on Time’s cover and accomplished it on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has reached Trump’s golf clubs – years ago, the publication requested to remove fabricated front pages on display at several of his venues.

This issue's photograph was taken by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on the fifth of October.

Its angle was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – an opening that California governor Gavin Newsom did not miss, with his press office posting a modified photo with the criticized section pixelated.

{The Israeli captives held in Gaza have been liberated under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement could be a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it could mark a key shift for that part of the world.

Meanwhile, a support for the president’s appearance has come from unusual quarters: the communications chief at Moscow's diplomatic office intervened to denounce the "revealing" photo selection.

It's amazing: a photograph reveals far more about those who selected it than about the subject. Only sick people, people filled with spite and resentment –perhaps even perverts – could have selected such an image", the official posted on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that that magazine used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the case is self-damaging for Time", she added.

The answer to Trump’s questions – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – might involve artistically representing a sense of power according to a picture editor, a media professional.

The image itself is well-executed," she notes. "They selected this photo because they wanted Trump to look heroic. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their importance and Trump’s face actually looks reflective and almost a bit ethereal. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair looks erased because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she explains. And, while the story’s headline marries well with Trump’s expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the individual in question."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and even if all of the artistic aspects of the image are highly effective, the appearance are unflattering."

The news outlet approached Time magazine for a statement.