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This is a favorable article in a publication that the president has frequently admired – but for one catch. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time's paean to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a image of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun shining from the back.

The result, Trump claims, is "super bad".

"Time wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the photo may be the most awful ever", the president posted 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. Really weird! I have never liked being shot from underneath, but this is a super bad image, and it deserves to be called out. Why did they choose this, and why?”

The president has expressed no secret of his desire to appear on the cover of Time and achieved this multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has extended to the president's resorts – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in a few of his establishments.

The most recent cover image was taken by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on 5 October.

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

{The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been freed under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement could be a major success of Trump's second term, and it might signify a key shift for that part of the world.

Simultaneously, a defense of Trump's image has emerged from an unexpected source: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to denounce the "damaging" image choice.

It's remarkable: a photograph says more about those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Just unwell persons, people driven by hatred and hatred –perhaps even perverts – could have selected such an image", she shared on the messaging platform.

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

The answer to Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – might involve artistically representing a feeling of authority stated by Carly Earl, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she explains. "They chose this shot because they wanted trump to look heroic. Gazing upward creates an impression of their grandeur and the president's visage actually looks reflective and almost slightly angelic. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the image has a softness to it."

The president's hair looks erased because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she adds. Although the feature's heading complements Trump’s expression in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and while all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The news outlet contacted Time magazine for feedback.