Topline
President Donald Trump complained in an overnight post on Truth Social that Time Magazine used an unflattering picture of him, taken from a low angle with the sunlight behind his head, on a cover that featured stories praising Trump’s role in brokering the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees.
President Donald Trump complained about a picture of himself Time Magazine chose for its cover. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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Key Facts
“Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time,” Trump said in a 1:30 a.m. ET post on Truth Social.
Trump said the magazine “‘disappeared’ my hair, and then had something floating on top of my head that looked like a floating crown, but an extremely small one. Really weird!” referring to his hair appearing translucent in the sunlight.
Trump criticized the framing of the picture, stating he “never liked” taking pictures from such a low angle, calling it a “super bad picture” that “deserves to be called out.”
Time Magazine posted a photo of the cover on Monday afternoon, featuring the title “His Triumph” and praising the peace plan as potentially being a “signature achievement of Trump’s second term” that could “mark a strategic turning point for the Middle East.”
Has Trump Criticized Photos Of Himself Before?
Trump has previously ranted about pictures and paintings of himself he considers unflattering. In March, he slammed a portrait of himself hanging in Colorado’s state capitol building as “purposefully distorted,” calling on Gov. Jared Polis to remove it. “Nobody likes a bad picture or painting of themselves, but the one in Colorado, in the State Capitol, put up by the Governor, along with all other Presidents, was purposefully distorted to a level that even I, perhaps, have never seen before,” Trump said in a Truth Social post at the time. In February 2020, during Trump’s first term, he complained about pictures that went viral online depicting him outside with windswept hair and an apparent tan line on his face. “More Fake News. This was photoshopped, obviously, but the wind was strong and the hair looks good? Anything to demean!” Trump tweeted at the time. In 2017, Trump criticized the cover of a book, “Unprecedented,” written by CNN reporters about Trump’s 2016 election victory. “Hope it does well but used worst cover photo of me!” Trump tweeted.
Tangent
The Time cover had stoked some critical reactions from Trump allies and mockery from others on social media Monday evening. “Time magazine uses the most unflattering photos of President Trump at a moment when they should be honoring him,” Kari Lake, who oversees the Voice of America broadcast organization, posted, calling the cover “fake news.” Mario Nawfal, a conservative influencer and podcast host with more than 2.6 million X followers, slammed Trump’s Time cover as “deliberately terrible” and compared it unfavorably to more flattering covers depicting Democrats including former President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and President Barack Obama.
Key Background
Hamas released the 20 remaining living hostages in Gaza and Israel released about 2,000 Palestinian detainees on Monday as Trump and Middle East leaders signed a peace plan at a summit in Egypt. Trump’s 20-point peace plan also includes calls for Hamas to give up weapons, the demilitarization of Gaza, that Israel will not annex or occupy Gaza and the creation of a temporary Palestinian governing committee overseen by an international board.
Further Reading
Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan in full (BBC)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2025/10/14/trump-complains-time-magazine-uses-worst-picture-of-him-of-all-time-on-cover/
