On October 14, 2025, as President Donald Trump landed back in the United States following a high-profile Middle East trip, his attention was drawn not to the diplomatic headlines but to the latest cover of Time magazine. The November 10 issue, meant to mark his much-heralded success in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, became the center of a different kind of controversy—one focused not on policy, but on photography.
Trump, never shy about his image or his legacy, took to Truth Social in the early hours of Tuesday morning, expressing his dismay at the magazine’s choice of cover photo. "Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time. 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. Really weird! 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?" he posted at 1:36 a.m. ET (as reported by Deadline and Axios).
The cover in question features Trump looking upwards, the sky a pale blue behind him, sunlight creating a halo-like effect that, in Trump’s words, made his hair look nearly transparent and suggested a crown floating above his head. The photo, shot from below, accentuates his neck and gives the image an unusual, almost ethereal quality. According to New York Magazine, the photograph was sourced from Getty Images and, aside from some color correction, appears unaltered—contrary to Trump’s suggestion of editorial mischief. The magazine’s cover lines—"His Triumph" and "The Leader Israel Needed"—seemed to offer praise, making the president’s focus on the aesthetics of the photo all the more pointed.
Trump’s fascination with Time magazine is well-documented. He was named Person of the Year in both 2016 and 2024, and has even displayed a fake Time cover at his Mar-a-Lago club, as The Washington Post once noted. Yet his relationship with the publication has been fraught with criticism over its portrayal of him, especially when it comes to unflattering photos. During the 2024 election, for example, Trump complained about a cover featuring Kamala Harris, alleging it wasn’t based on a real photo and that she resembled his wife, Melania—a claim promptly debunked.
The current controversy, however, comes at a moment of significant achievement for Trump. The Time cover story, penned by correspondent Eric Cortellessa, details the president’s efforts—alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and son-in-law Jared Kushner—to broker a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas. The story recounts how Trump’s 20-point peace plan, first floated at the United Nations General Assembly the previous month, succeeded in bringing both sides to the negotiating table. As of October 13, according to Nexstar Media and Axios, Israel had released over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, while Hamas freed all 20 living hostages and returned four bodies of deceased captives. Trump had met with hostage families in Jerusalem, addressed the Israeli Knesset, and attended a signing ceremony with world leaders in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Despite the celebratory mood surrounding the peace deal—which Time described as potentially a “signature achievement of Trump’s second term” and a “strategic turning point for the Middle East”—the president’s irritation over the magazine cover dominated headlines. According to Axios, Trump told the outlet over the weekend that the deal "could be the biggest thing I was ever involved in." Yet on social media, his focus remained squarely on the perceived slight of the photograph. "Taking pictures from underneath angles is usually a bad move—particularly when the subject is a 79-year-old man," observed New York Magazine, echoing Trump’s own complaints.
Reactions to the cover image were not limited to Trump himself. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, writing on Telegram, denounced the choice as "astonishing," claiming, "Only unhealthy people, people obsessed with malice and hatred—perhaps even freaks—could have chosen such a photo." The comment, reported by Axios, highlights how Trump’s image remains a flashpoint not just in American politics but on the world stage, with Russia seeking to curry favor with the Trump administration amid ongoing tensions over Ukraine.
California Governor Gavin Newsom, never one to miss an opportunity for political theater, joined the fray by reposting the Time cover on X (formerly Twitter), censoring Trump’s neck in a tongue-in-cheek jab at the president’s vanity. The online mockery underscored how, even in moments of diplomatic accomplishment, Trump’s public persona and appearance remain fodder for both critics and supporters.
Meanwhile, the substance of the peace agreement has not gone unnoticed. The deal, reached two years after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, marks a significant—if fragile—step forward. According to the Gaza health ministry, more than 67,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, with Gaza devastated by Israeli military operations. As of October 14, even after the agreement’s first phase began, violence persisted: Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians in a drone strike, as reported by Axios. The peace plan calls for Israel to partially withdraw its troops from Gaza and for Hamas to release the remaining hostages.
Inside the Time cover story, Cortellessa’s reporting emphasizes the bipartisan praise Trump has received for the deal, noting that it "could become a signature achievement of Trump’s second term." The story also highlights the complex negotiations and the skepticism among some families of hostages, who criticized Hamas for returning only a portion of the bodies of deceased captives. Still, the deal is widely seen as a breakthrough, with potential ramifications for the broader Middle East and for Trump’s political legacy.
Yet, in a twist that feels quintessentially Trumpian, the president’s social media posts about the cover photo have, at least temporarily, eclipsed discussion of the peace agreement itself. As New York Magazine put it, "There are definitely better uses of his time, but I guess it beats sharing AI-generated videos about imaginary 'Medbed' technology." The episode is a reminder that, for Trump, image and legacy are often intertwined—and that even at the height of diplomatic achievement, the battle over public perception is never far from his mind.
For all the drama over lighting, angles, and floating crowns, the real story may be that, in 2025, a magazine cover can still spark a global debate—especially when Donald Trump is at its center.
