Former President Donald Trump expressed mixed feelings about his latest Time magazine cover appearance, celebrating the recognition for his role in ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas while harshly criticizing the photograph used for the November 10, 2025 edition. The 79-year-old billionaire took to his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, October 14, to voice his displeasure with what he called "perhaps the worst photo of all time."
Time magazine's latest cover portrays Trump in a heroic light, with his gaze directed toward the horizon, sunlight positioned behind his head, and shot from a low angle. The magazine praised Trump for "his triumph" and even labeled him as "the leader Israel needed" following the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. Despite the positive coverage, Trump found significant fault with the visual presentation.
"Time magazine wrote a pretty good article about me," Trump acknowledged on Truth Social, referring to the publication known for its annual ranking of the world's most influential personalities. However, he quickly pivoted to his main complaint about the photograph's technical execution and artistic choices.
Trump specifically criticized the use of backlighting and the low-angle shot, claiming these techniques created an unflattering portrayal. "They 'made my hair disappear,' then added something floating above my head that looked like a floating crown, but extremely small. Really strange!" he complained in his social media post. The former president also took issue with how the photograph captured his neck area, which appeared constricted by his shirt collar and signature red tie.
The unflattering nature of the photograph did not go unnoticed by Trump's political opponents. California Governor Gavin Newsom joined in mocking the image by reposting a version with the neck area pixelated, drawing further attention to what Trump considered a particularly problematic aspect of the photo.
"I never liked being photographed from low angles, but this one is a very bad photo and deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?" Trump questioned in his Truth Social post, suggesting there might have been intentional editorial choices behind the unflattering presentation.
Trump's obsession with Time magazine covers has been well-documented throughout his political career. According to The Guardian, the prestigious publication even requested in 2017 that Trump remove fake Time covers featuring himself that were displayed in some of his properties, highlighting his long-standing desire to appear on the magazine's front page.
Since returning to power in 2025, Trump's photographs have already appeared on Time's cover three times, demonstrating the magazine's continued interest in covering his presidency. Following the tradition established for all U.S. presidents since Franklin D. Roosevelt, Trump was also named Person of the Year for each of his presidential terms, receiving the honor in both 2016 and 2024.
The incident reflects Trump's well-known preoccupation with his media image and his tendency to publicly critique coverage that he perceives as unflattering, even when the accompanying article presents him in a positive light. His detailed criticism of photographic techniques such as backlighting and camera angles demonstrates his acute awareness of visual presentation in media coverage.
