'The worst of all time': Trump criticizes Time magazine's 'super bad' cover image.

It is a positive feature in a magazine that Donald Trump has long exalted – except for one issue. The front-page image, Trump declared, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's paean to Donald Trump's part in mediating a Gaza ceasefire, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a photo of the president shot from a low angle and with the sun shining from the back.

The effect, Trump claims, is ""extremely poor".

"Time wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the most awful ever", he shared on Truth Social.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was an object above my head that appeared as a hovering crown, but quite miniature. Very odd! I have consistently disliked being photographed from below, but this is a super bad image, and it merits criticism. What are they doing, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown obvious his ambition to appear on Time magazine's front page and accomplished it multiple times in the past year. This fixation has made it as far as the president's resorts – in 2017, the editors demanded to remove mocked up covers exhibited in a few of his establishments.

This issue's photograph was taken by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the presidential residence on October 5.

Its angle highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – an opening that California governor Gavin Newsom did not miss, with the governor's office sharing an altered image with the problematic part blurred.

{The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been freed under the opening part of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a Palestinian prisoner release. This agreement may become a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it could mark a strategic turning point for the region.

At the same time, a defense of the president’s appearance has been offered by an unexpected source: the director of information at the Russian foreign ministry stepped in to criticise the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a image reveals far more about those who chose it than about the individual pictured. Just unwell persons, people filled with spite and hatred –perhaps even perverts – could have chosen such a photo", she posted on the messaging platform.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that that magazine used on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the situation is self-revealing for the publication", she said.

The response to the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a sense of power stated by a picture editor, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she says. "They chose this shot because they wanted the president to look impressive. Looking up at a person evokes a feeling of their grandeur and Trump’s face actually looks contemplative and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see images of the president in such a serene moment – the image has a softness to it."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Although the article's title marries well with his facial expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the person photographed."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are quite powerful, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The news outlet reached out to the periodical for feedback.

Theresa White
Theresa White

A dedicated film critic with over a decade of experience, specializing in indie cinema and blockbuster analysis.