Featured Image Credit: TIME
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, News, Politics
Rhianna Benson
Despite being featured on the cover of TIME magazine this week, Donald Trump has taken the prestigious honour rather back-handedly.
Bosses at the weekly New York-based news outlet selected the President as their latest cover star following the success of the ceasefire agreement he proposed last week in the Middle East.
Israel withdrew its military forces from Gaza - where a politically-weaponised famine was declared by the United Nations back in August - on Friday (10 Oct), after Hamas agreed to return the hostages they'd abducted during the 7 October attack in 2023.
The days that followed saw a meeting of world leaders in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, during which Trump, 79, signed an agreement outlining commitments to end hostilities between Israel and Palestine, and promising to see Gaza's structures restored.
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Despite his controversial right-wing politics on other societal matters, onlookers of the devastating crisis in Gaza have since credited the American politician for bringing some form of relief to those suffering.
Among those to have praised Trump are senior reporters at TIME magazine who, as we say, made the decision to feature the Republican frontman on the cover of their latest edition.
Unfortunately for the President, however, he believes the photograph chosen for his special commemoration has done him dirty.
So much so, that he's taken aim at the political publication in a scathing social media statement.
For anyone who hasn't yet seen the 14 October cover, it features Trump from below, with the sun appearing behind his head. The snap is accompanied by the words 'The leader Israel needed', as well another headline 'How Gaza heals'.
According to the father-of-five, however, the placement of the light makes his white-blonde head of hair especially difficult to spot.
He began his Truth Social response by firstly thanking journalists for the honour, before quickly getting into a fiery rant over his appearance.
"Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time," Trump wrote, making sure to emphasise the capitals. "They 'disappeared' my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one."
He went on to describe the choice of image as 'really weird', admitting: "I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?"
Apparently, however, it isn't just Trump who has taken issue with the choice of image, with a number of professional photographers also criticising TIME bosses, branding the decision purposeful.
"As a pro photographer myself, if they used that photo of mine I would freak out," one hit out, as per Metro. "No one takes a picture of a world leader up the nostril. It’s deliberate, it’s awful, and it’s evil."
Another agreed, adding: "As a photographer, I would be ashamed to put this out there as my work. Shooting up someone’s nose? HUGE no no. If they gave him options and he chose this, that’s different, but if they chose it? No."