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It is a glowing article in a periodical that the president has long exalted – with one exception. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's praise to Donald Trump's part in brokering a truce for Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a photograph of Trump captured from underneath and with the sun positioned behind him.

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

"Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the image may be the Worst of All Time", he shared on Truth Social.

“They removed my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a hovering tiara, but an very tiny one. Quite bizarre! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and merits public condemnation. Why did they do this, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to appear on Time’s cover and achieved this four times last year. The preoccupation has extended to Trump’s golf clubs – years ago, the editors demanded to remove mocked up covers on display at some of his properties.

This issue's photograph was shot by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on 5 October.

The shot's viewpoint was unflattering to Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that California governor Gavin Newsom did not miss, with his communications team tweeting a version with the criticized section pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been liberated under the opening part of Trump's ceasefire agreement, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release. The arrangement could be a major success of his next term, and it may represent a key shift for the region.

Meanwhile, a defense of the president’s appearance has come from a surprising origin: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to criticise the "damaging" photo selection.

It's remarkable: a photograph exposes those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Just unwell persons, people driven by hatred and animosity –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova wrote on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that the same publication displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she noted.

The explanation for Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a sense of power stated by an imaging expert, a media professional.

The image itself is well-executed," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted the president to look impressive. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their grandeur and the president's visage actually looks thoughtful and almost slightly angelic. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a serene moment – the image has a softness to it."

The president's hair seems to vanish because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. And, while the story’s headline pairs nicely with Trump’s expression in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

Few people appreciate being shot from underneath, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are very strong, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The news outlet contacted the magazine for comment.