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This is a favorable story in a magazine that the president has long exalted – with one exception. The magazine's cover photo, Trump declared, ""might be the most terrible in history".

Time magazine's paean to Donald Trump's part in facilitating a ceasefire in Gaza, leading its 10 November issue, was accompanied by a photo of the president captured from underneath while the sun positioned behind him.

The outcome, the president asserts, is ""extremely poor".

"The publication wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the image 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 extremely small one. Truly strange! I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a extremely poor picture, and deserves to be called out. Why did they do this, and why?”

The president has expressed clear his wish to appear on Time magazine's front page and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has extended to his golf courses – in 2017, the magazine asked him to remove fabricated front pages exhibited in a few of his establishments.

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

Its angle highlighted negatively his chin and neck area – a chance that California governor Gavin Newsom did not miss, with his press office sharing an altered image with the criticized section blurred.

{The hostages from Israel in Gaza have been released under the first phase of Trump's ceasefire agreement, in exchange for a release of Palestinian detainees. The arrangement could be a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it could mark a pivotal moment for the region.

Simultaneously, a defense of the president’s appearance has been offered by a surprising origin: the communications chief at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to criticise the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

It's amazing: a image exposes those who picked it than about the subject. Only sick people, people filled with spite and resentment –possibly even deviants – could have chosen such a photo", Maria Zakharova shared on the messaging platform.

"And given the complimentary photos of Biden that the same publication featured on the front, even with his age-related challenges, the situation is self-revealing for the magazine", she noted.

The explanation for his queries – what were Time’s editors doing, and why? – may be something to do with creatively capturing a sense of power according to a picture editor, a media professional.

The image itself is professionally taken," she notes. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look heroic. Gazing upward creates an impression of their grandeur and his expression actually looks thoughtful 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, producing a glowing aura, she says. And, while the article's title marries well with the president's look in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

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

The news outlet reached out to Time magazine for a statement.