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This is a glowing article in a periodical that Trump has frequently admired – except for one issue. The front-page image, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

Time magazine's tribute to the president's involvement in facilitating a Gaza ceasefire, leading its 10 November issue, was presented alongside a image of Trump taken from below while the sun behind his head.

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

"Time wrote a quite favorable story about me, but the photo may be the Worst of All Time", Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“They ‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had an object hovering on top of my head that looked like a suspended coronet, but an extremely small one. Quite bizarre! I consistently avoided taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and should be criticized. What are they doing, and why?”

Donald Trump has shown no secret of his desire to appear on Time’s cover and achieved this four times last year. This fixation has made it as far as the president's resorts – previously, the editors demanded to remove fake issues exhibited in several of his venues.

The most recent cover image was taken by a photographer for Bloomberg at the White House on October 5.

Its angle did no favours for the president's jawline and throat – an opening that the governor of California Newsom took advantage of, with his press office posting a modified photo with the offending area pixelated.

{The Israeli captives in Gaza have been released under the initial stage of the president's diplomatic initiative, in exchange for a Palestinian prisoner release. The arrangement may become a defining accomplishment of Trump's second term, and it may represent a strategic turning point for the region.

Meanwhile, a defence of the president’s appearance has been offered by an unexpected source: the communications chief at the Russian foreign ministry stepped in to condemn the "revealing" photo selection.

"It’s astonishing: a photo exposes those who selected it than about the subject. Only sick people, people filled with spite and resentment –perhaps even perverts – could have chosen such a photo", the official posted on the messaging platform.

Considering the favorable images of Biden that that magazine featured on the front, despite his physical infirmity, the case is self-damaging for the magazine", she said.

The response to the president's inquiries – why did they choose this, and why? – might involve creatively capturing a impression of strength stated by Carly Earl, a media professional.

"The actual photo itself is well-executed," she says. "They picked this image because they wanted trump to look impressive. Staring up at someone evokes a feeling of their majesty and his expression actually looks reflective 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 sunlight behind him has overexposed that part 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."

"No one likes being shot from underneath, and even if all of the conceptual elements of the image are highly effective, the appearance are unflattering."

The Guardian approached the periodical for a statement.