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It is a favorable story in a periodical that the president has consistently praised – with one exception. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's tribute to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, featured on its November 10 cover, was paired with a photo of the president captured from underneath while the sun positioned behind him.

The outcome, he says, is "super bad".

"Time wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time", he shared on Truth Social.

“My hair was obscured, and then there was something floating my head that looked like a floating crown, but very tiny. Really weird! I have never liked being photographed from below, but this is a extremely poor image, and it merits criticism. Why did they choose this, and why?”

Trump has made obvious his ambition to appear on the cover of Time and accomplished it four times last year. The obsession has reached Trump’s golf clubs – years ago, the publication requested to remove mocked up covers on display at a few of his establishments.

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

Its angle highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that California governor Newsom seized, with the governor's office posting a modified photo with the offending area obscured.

{The Israeli captives in Gaza have been liberated under the initial stage of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement may become a major success of his next term, and it could mark a strategic turning point for that part of the world.

Meanwhile, a defence of his portrayal has emerged from a surprising origin: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry stepped in to condemn the "damaging" image choice.

It's remarkable: a image says more about those who selected it than about the individual pictured. Only disturbed individuals, people filled with spite and animosity –possibly even deviants – could have selected such an image", the official wrote on the messaging platform.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that the periodical displayed on the cover, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for the publication", she noted.

The answer to his queries – what did the editors intend, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a feeling of authority according to an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They chose this shot because they wanted Trump to look impressive. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their grandeur and Trump’s face actually looks thoughtful and almost somewhat divine. It's uncommon you see photos of Trump in such a calm instance – the image has a softness to it."

His hair appears to “disappear” because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, generating a radiant circle, she explains. Although the article's title pairs nicely with the president's look in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the subject matter."

Nobody enjoys being photographed from below, and while all of the conceptual elements of the image are quite powerful, the appearance are not complimentary."

The publication reached out to Time magazine for a statement.