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This is a positive story in a magazine that the president has consistently praised – but for one catch. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's paean to Trump's role in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, leading its 10 November issue, was paired with a photo of Trump shot from a low angle and with the sun positioned behind him.

The outcome, he says, is ""extremely poor".

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

“My hair was ‘disappeared’, and then there was an object above my head that seemed like a suspended diadem, but quite miniature. Truly strange! I have never liked being photographed from below, but this is a super bad image, and it merits criticism. Why did they choose this, and why?”

The president has expressed clear his wish to be pictured on the cover of Time and did so multiple times in the past year. The preoccupation has reached the president's resorts – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove fake issues shown in several of his venues.

The latest edition’s photo was shot by Graeme Sloane for a news agency at the White House on October 5.

Its angle highlighted negatively the president's jawline and throat – an opening that California governor Gavin Newsom seized, with his press office tweeting a version with the problematic part obscured.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been released under the first phase of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement could be a major success of his next term, and it may represent a pivotal moment for that part of the world.

Meanwhile, a support for the president’s appearance has been offered by a surprising origin: the spokesperson at the Russian foreign ministry came forward to criticise the "damaging" picture decision.

It's amazing: a image reveals far more about those who chose it than about the individual pictured. Only sick people, people filled with spite and resentment –perhaps even perverts – could have chosen such a photo", she wrote on her social channel.

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

The response to his queries – what did the editors intend, and why? – may be something to do with artistically representing a impression of strength says a picture editor, a media professional.

The image itself technically is good," she explains. "They selected this photo because they wanted Trump to look commanding. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their majesty and his expression actually looks reflective and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a peaceful state – the photo appears gentle."

His hair looks erased because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, generating a radiant circle, she says. Even though the story’s headline marries well with his facial expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the person photographed."

Few people appreciate being photographed from below, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are unflattering."

The publication reached out to the periodical for a statement.