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This is a positive article in a periodical that the president has frequently admired – except for one issue. The cover picture, the president decreed, ""could be the worst ever".

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

The result, Trump claims, is ""terrible".

"Time Magazine wrote a fairly positive story about me, but the picture may be the most awful ever", Trump wrote on his social media platform.

“My hair was erased, and then there was an object above my head that seemed like a suspended diadem, but very tiny. Really weird! I have never liked being photographed from below, but this is a extremely poor image, and it deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?”

The president has expressed no secret of his desire to feature on Time magazine's front page and accomplished it on four occasions in the previous year. The preoccupation has extended to his golf courses – previously, the editors demanded to remove fabricated front pages exhibited in several of his venues.

This issue's photograph was shot by Graeme Sloane for Bloomberg at the White House on 5 October.

Its angle highlighted negatively Trump’s chin and neck – a chance that the governor of California Gavin Newsom took advantage of, with his communications team sharing an altered image with the criticized section pixelated.

{The hostages from Israel detained in Gaza have been released under the first phase of the president's diplomatic initiative, alongside a release of Palestinian detainees. This agreement could be a defining accomplishment of his next term, and it might signify a strategic turning point for that part of the world.

Simultaneously, a defense of Trump's image has emerged from an unexpected source: the spokesperson at Moscow's diplomatic office came forward to criticise the "revealing" picture decision.

It's amazing: a image reveals far more about those who chose it than about the subject. Only disturbed individuals, people driven by hatred and resentment –maybe even degenerates – could have chosen such a photo", she shared on her social channel.

In light of the positive pictures of Biden that that magazine featured on the front, despite his physical infirmity, the situation is self-revealing for Time", she added.

The answer to Trump’s questions – what did the editors intend, and why? – could be related to artistically representing a sense of power according to a picture editor, Guardian Australia’s picture editor.

"The actual photo itself is professionally taken," she explains. "They picked this image because they wanted the president to look impressive. Gazing upward creates an impression of their majesty and Trump’s face actually looks contemplative and almost slightly angelic. It’s not often you see pictures of him in such a calm instance – the image has a softness to it."

Trump’s hair looks erased because the sunlight behind him has bleached that section of the image, producing a glowing aura, she says. Although the feature's heading complements Trump’s expression in the image, "one cannot constantly gratify the person photographed."

Few people appreciate being shot from underneath, and although all of the thematic components of the image are quite powerful, the aesthetics are not flattering."

The Guardian reached out to Time magazine for comment.