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This is a positive feature in a publication that Trump has frequently admired – but for one catch. The magazine's cover photo, he stated, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's praise to Trump's role in brokering a Gaza ceasefire, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a photograph of Trump captured from underneath while the sun behind his head.

The effect, the president asserts, is ""extremely poor".

"Time wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the image may be the most awful ever", Trump wrote on his preferred network.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was an object above my head that appeared as a suspended diadem, but extremely small. Truly strange! I have always hated being captured from low angles, but this is a awful image, and it merits criticism. What is their goal, and why?”

The president has expressed clear his wish to be pictured on the cover of Time and achieved this on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has extended to his golf courses – previously, the publication requested to remove fake issues shown in several of his venues.

The most recent cover image was shot by a photographer for Bloomberg at the White House on 5 October.

The perspective highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that the governor of California Newsom did not miss, with his press office tweeting a version with the problematic part blurred.

{The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a Palestinian prisoner release. This agreement might turn into a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a key shift for the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a defense of his portrayal has been offered by an unexpected source: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to condemn the "damaging" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a image reveals far more about those who picked it than about the person in it. Only sick people, people driven by hatred and hatred –perhaps even perverts – could have selected such an image", the official posted on the messaging platform.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the periodical featured on the front, notwithstanding his health issues, the case is self-damaging for Time", she added.

The explanation for Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to creatively capturing a impression of strength stated by a picture editor, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

The photograph technically is professionally taken," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted trump to look impressive. Looking up at a person gives a sense of their importance and the president's visage actually looks contemplative and almost a bit ethereal. It's uncommon you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the picture feels tender."

The president's hair looks erased because the sunlight behind him has overexposed that part of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. And, while the article's title complements Trump’s expression in the image, "you can’t always please the person photographed."

"No one likes being photographed from below, and while all of the artistic aspects of the image are quite powerful, the appearance are not flattering."

The publication reached out to Time magazine for feedback.