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It is a favorable article in a publication that Trump has consistently praised – except for one issue. The magazine's cover photo, Trump declared, ""could be the worst ever".

Time's paean to Trump's role in facilitating a truce for Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was presented alongside a image of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun shining from the back.

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

"The publication wrote a relatively good story about me, but the photo may be the most awful ever", he shared on his social media platform.

“They removed my hair, and then had an object hovering on top of my head that appeared as a suspended coronet, but an very tiny one. Truly strange! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to feature on Time magazine's front page and achieved this on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has extended to his golf courses – years ago, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages shown in some of his properties.

The latest edition’s photo was captured by a photographer for a news agency at the presidential residence on the fifth of October.

Its angle was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – an opportunity that California governor Newsom seized, with his press office sharing an altered image with the problematic part obscured.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been released under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a freeing of Palestinian inmates. The deal could be a major success of the president's renewed tenure, and it may represent a pivotal moment for the Middle East.

At the same time, a defence of his portrayal has come from a surprising origin: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry stepped in to criticise the "self-incriminating" picture decision.

"It’s astonishing: a photo exposes those who chose it than about the individual pictured. Only sick people, people obsessed with malice and animosity –maybe even degenerates – could have picked this picture", Maria Zakharova shared on her social channel.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that the same publication featured on the front, notwithstanding his health issues, the case is self-damaging for the magazine", she said.

The response to his queries – why did they choose this, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a feeling of authority says an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself technically is good," she notes. "They chose this shot because they wanted Trump to look commanding. Gazing upward gives a sense of their majesty and Trump’s face actually looks thoughtful and almost somewhat divine. It's rare you see images of the president in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

Trump’s hair appears to “disappear” because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she explains. Although the feature's heading marries well with the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the subject matter."

"No one likes being photographed from below, and while all of the thematic components of the image are quite powerful, the visual appeal are not complimentary."

The publication contacted the periodical for feedback.