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It is a glowing story in a periodical that the president has long exalted – except for one issue. The cover picture, Trump declared, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's paean to Trump's role in brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, headlining its early November edition, was paired with a photograph of the president shot from a low angle while the sun positioned behind him.

The outcome, the president asserts, is ""terrible".

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

“They removed my hair, and then had an object hovering on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an very tiny one. Quite bizarre! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a extremely poor picture, and deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?”

The president has expressed obvious his ambition to feature on the cover of Time and accomplished it on four occasions in the previous year. This fixation has reached his golf courses – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove mocked up covers shown in a few of his establishments.

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

The shot's viewpoint was unflattering to the president's jawline and throat – an opening that California governor Newsom took advantage of, with his press office posting a modified photo with the problematic part pixelated.

{The living Israeli hostages in Gaza have been freed under the initial stage of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement may become a signature achievement of his next term, and it could mark a pivotal moment for the region.

Simultaneously, a defence of his portrayal has been offered by a surprising origin: the communications chief at Moscow's diplomatic office came forward to condemn the "self-incriminating" image choice.

"It’s astonishing: a image reveals far more about those who chose it than about the person in it. Only disturbed individuals, people driven by hatred and hatred –possibly even deviants – could have selected such an image", she shared on her social channel.

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

The answer to Trump’s questions – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with artistically representing a sense of power stated by an imaging expert, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

The image itself technically is good," she explains. "They chose this shot because they wanted Trump to look commanding. Looking up at a person creates an impression of their grandeur and Trump’s face actually looks thoughtful and almost slightly angelic. It's uncommon you see photos of Trump in such a serene moment – the picture feels tender."

His hair seems to vanish because the rear illumination has washed out that area of the image, creating a halo effect, she explains. Even though the article's title pairs nicely with the president's look in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the person photographed."

Few people appreciate being photographed from below, and even if all of the thematic components of the image are very strong, the aesthetics are not complimentary."

The Guardian contacted Time magazine for comment.