President Trump slammed Time magazine early Tuesday for using an unflattering picture for a cover story about “his triumph” in securing the releases of Israeli hostages from Hamas captivity.
“Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.“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!”
The cover, bearing the headline “His Triumph” featured a portrait shot from below and slightly to the right of the 47th president, giving the viewer a close-up look at Trump’s right ear, cheek, eye and nostril.
President Trump criticized Time magazine for using what he described as the “worst photo of all time” of him on the cover of its story about the release of Israeli hostages from Gaza.
“I never liked taking pictures from underneath angles, but this is a super bad picture, and deserves to be called out,” added Trump before concluding his post with the question: “What are they doing, and why?”
The cover hit newsstands one day after 20 living hostages were finally freed, more than two years after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
In return, Israel released some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of about 360 Palestinians, officials said.
“The living Israeli hostages held in Gaza have been freed under the first phase of Donald Trump’s peace plan, alongside a Palestinian prisoner release,” the outlet said in the story. “The deal may become a signature achievement of Trump’s second term, and it could mark a strategic turning point for the Middle East.”
The president had unveiled a 20-point plan on Sept. 29 to end the Israel-Hamas war, and a ceasefire between the two sides took effect this past Friday.
Trump then received a hero’s welcome during his Monday address to the Israeli Knesset before crossing over to Egypt for a peace summit in which leaders from over two dozen countries brainstormed ways to maintain the delicate truce.
Trump waits to greet leaders during a summit to support ending the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war in Gaza after a breakthrough cease-fire deal, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. AP
“We’ve achieved what everybody said was impossible — at long last, we have peace in the Middle East,” Trump proclaimed Monday. “Nobody thought we could ever get there, and now we’re there.”
Trump has long been enthralled by traditional emblems of prestige, such as Time magazine’s highly coveted person of the year title — which he has won twice, in 2016 and 2024.
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The president has granted the outlet interviews on occasion and once posed for a 2015 story alongside a bald eagle, which later attempted to attack him.
Trump also hasn’t been shy about complaining when portrayed in unflattering ways or put in awkward situations that might undercut the powerful imagery he likes to project.
Last month, he ripped into the United Nations and demanded an investigation after the escalator he was riding on came to an abrupt halt and his teleprompter froze up while he addressed the UN General Assembly.