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It is a positive story in a magazine that the president has consistently praised – except for one issue. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's paean to Trump's role in brokering a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was accompanied by a image of the president taken from below while the sun behind his head.

The outcome, Trump claims, is ""terrible".

"Time wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the photo may be the Worst of All Time", the president posted on his social media platform.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that resembled a hovering tiara, but an remarkably little one. Really weird! I consistently avoided taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a terrible picture, and merits public condemnation. Why did they do this, and why?”

The president has expressed no secret of his desire to appear on Time magazine's front page and accomplished it on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has made it as far as his golf courses – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in several of his venues.

The most recent cover image was captured by a photographer for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on the fifth of October.

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

{The Israeli captives in Gaza have been liberated under the initial stage of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The deal may become a signature achievement of the president's renewed tenure, and it may represent a strategic turning point for that part of the world.

Meanwhile, a support for the president’s appearance has come from unusual quarters: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry stepped in to condemn the "damaging" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph reveals far more about those who selected it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people obsessed with malice and hatred –maybe even degenerates – could have selected such an image", Maria Zakharova shared on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that the periodical used on the cover, even with his age-related challenges, the situation is self-revealing for the magazine", she said.

The explanation for his queries – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a sense of power stated by Carly Earl, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The photograph technically is well-executed," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted trump to look heroic. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their grandeur and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see photos of Trump in such a peaceful state – the photo appears gentle."

The president's hair looks erased because the rear illumination has bleached that section of the image, generating a radiant circle, she adds. Although the feature's heading complements Trump’s expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the subject matter."

Few people appreciate being shot from underneath, and although all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The Guardian contacted the periodical for feedback.