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This is a favorable story in a publication that the president has consistently praised – with one exception. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

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

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

"Time wrote a relatively good story about me, but the photo may be the lowest quality in history", the president posted on his preferred network.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that appeared as a floating crown, but an extremely small one. Truly strange! I consistently avoided taking pictures from below viewpoints, but this is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out. What is their intention, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown clear his wish to be pictured on Time’s cover and did so on four occasions in the previous year. The obsession has made it as far as the president's resorts – previously, the editors demanded to remove fake issues shown in a few of his establishments.

The latest edition’s photo was taken by a photographer for Bloomberg at the presidential residence on October 5.

Its angle highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – an opportunity that California governor Gavin Newsom did not miss, with his press office sharing an altered image with the offending area blurred.

{The living Israeli hostages detained in Gaza have been liberated under the initial stage of Donald Trump's peace plan, together with a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement might turn into a defining accomplishment of the president's renewed tenure, and it might signify a strategic turning point for the region.

Simultaneously, a support for Trump's image has been offered by an unexpected source: the director of information at Russia’s ministry of foreign affairs came forward to denounce the "self-incriminating" photo selection.

It's amazing: a photo reveals far more about those who picked it than about the subject. Only sick people, people filled with spite and animosity –perhaps even perverts – could have selected such an image", the official wrote on her social channel.

Considering the favorable images of President Biden that that magazine featured on the front, notwithstanding his health issues, the story is simply self-incriminating for Time", she noted.

The answer to his queries – why did they choose this, and why? – could be related to innovatively depicting a feeling of authority according to Carly Earl, an Australian publication's photo editor.

The image itself is well-executed," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted Trump to look commanding. Staring up at someone creates an impression of their grandeur and the president's visage actually looks contemplative and almost somewhat divine. It’s not often you see images of the president in such a calm instance – the image has a softness to it."

The president's hair seems to vanish because the light from behind has washed out that area of the image, producing a glowing aura, she adds. Even though the story’s headline pairs nicely with Trump’s expression in the image, "it's impossible to satisfy the subject matter."

Few people appreciate being shot from underneath, and although all of the thematic components of the image are highly effective, the visual appeal are not flattering."

The Guardian reached out to the magazine for comment.