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This is a glowing story in a periodical that the president has consistently praised – except for one issue. The magazine's cover photo, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's tribute to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a truce for Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was accompanied by a photo of Trump shot from a low angle while the sun positioned behind him.

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

"Time wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the photo may be the lowest quality in history", Trump wrote on his preferred network.

“They eliminated my hair, and then had a shape drifting on top of my head that appeared as a hovering tiara, but an very tiny one. Really weird! I never liked taking pictures from low perspectives, but this is a terrible picture, and deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?”

Trump has made no secret of his desire to appear on Time magazine's front page and accomplished it on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has extended to his golf courses – in 2017, the publication requested to remove fabricated front pages shown in some of his properties.

The most recent cover image was shot by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the presidential residence on 5 October.

The shot's viewpoint highlighted negatively his chin and neck area – an opening that the governor of California Newsom seized, with the governor's office sharing an altered image with the offending area blurred.

{The Israeli captives detained in Gaza have been released under the opening part of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. The deal may become a major success of Trump's second term, and it might signify a strategic turning point for the Middle East.

Meanwhile, a support for the president’s appearance has been offered by a surprising origin: the spokesperson at the Russian foreign ministry intervened to criticise the "damaging" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a photograph reveals far more about those who chose it than about the individual pictured. Only disturbed individuals, people driven by hatred and resentment –perhaps even perverts – could have selected such an image", Maria Zakharova wrote on the messaging platform.

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

The answer to the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – may be something to do with innovatively depicting a sense of power according to Carly Earl, an Australian publication's photo editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she explains. "They chose this shot because they wanted trump to look impressive. Staring up at someone gives a sense of their importance and his expression actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It's uncommon you see images of the president in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she explains. Although the story’s headline complements his facial expression in the image, "you can’t always please the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being shot from underneath, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are quite powerful, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The Guardian approached the periodical for comment.