Trump calls his Time magazine cover picture the ‘worst of all time’
Donald Trump. (Getty)
Donald Trump. (Getty)
Donald Trump has described Time magazine’s cover photo of him, which accompanied a feature on his peace-making efforts in the Middle East, as possibly “the worst of all time”.
The cover has the headline His Triumph, with a photograph of Trump, taken from a low angle and a bright sky behind him.
“Time magazine wrote a relatively good story about me but the picture may be the worst of all time,” he wrote in response on his Truth Social social media platform. “They ‘disappeared’ my hair and had something floating on top of my head that looked like a 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?”
A social media caption for the cover, shared on Instagram, read: “The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Donald Trump’s peace plan. And as part of the deal, Israel released 250 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences and an additional 1,700 Gazans detained after October 7, 2023.
“The deal could become a signature achievement of Trump’s second term and could mark a strategic turning point for the Middle East.
“While Israel and Hamas have accepted the two-phase agreement, there remains the chance it could unravel.”
The president’s supporters were quick to take his side, describing the photo as “deliberate, awful and evil” as well as “passive aggressive”, with some using AI to make the image more to their liking.
Trump’s comments come after he signed the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, which was attended by several world leaders, including French president Emmanuel Macron and UK prime minister Keir Starmer.
Following the attack in southern Israel by Hamas two years ago, which left 1,195 people dead and at least 250 Israeli citizens and soldiers taken hostage, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response has resulted in the death of more than 67,000 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
A peer-reviewed study published in the medical journal The Lancet earlier this year put the death toll considerably higher and IIsrael has faced international criticism for its military action, which included the blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza, causing food and medical shortages.
The 20-point ceasefire deal brought about the release of all 20 of the remaining living Israeli hostages as well as some 1,700 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have “withdrawn to the agreed-upon line” and plans have been set out to redevelop Gaza, which will be overseen by a “temporary transitional governance of a technocratic, apolitical Palestinian committee”.
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