Trump Slams Time Magazine Over Peace Deal Cover ‘Worst Photo Ever’/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ President Trump criticized Time magazine for using what he called an unflattering photo on its cover despite the feature praising his Middle East peace deal as a triumph. The image, showing a crown-like glare over his head and missing his signature hairstyle, provoked mockery from the president. The cover accompanied Time’s recognition of his Gaza ceasefire deal as a major foreign policy success.
Trump Slams Time Magazine Photo: Quick Looks
- Time featured Trump’s Mideast peace deal as “his triumph”
- Trump attacked the magazine’s choice of a cover photo
- Criticized image for showing “no hair” and a “tiny crown”
- The story praised Trump’s Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement
- The peace deal freed 20 Israeli hostages, 2,000 Palestinian prisoners
- Trump visited Israel and Egypt to finalize the agreement
- The president called the photo “really weird” and “super bad”
- He has a history of feuding with Time despite past accolades
- The magazine has named Trump “Person of the Year” twice
- Trump signed the Gaza peace deal in Sharm el-Sheikh Monday
Trump Slams Time Magazine Over Peace Deal Cover ‘Worst Photo Ever’
Deep Look
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump is once again at odds with Time magazine — not over their coverage, but over the photo they chose to represent his latest foreign policy victory.
On Tuesday morning, Trump blasted the magazine’s latest cover image featuring him beneath the headline “His triumph”, referring to the Middle East peace deal he brokered between Israel and Hamas. Despite the positive article, Trump took issue with the artistic interpretation of the photo.
“Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “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!”
The cover photo, shot from a low angle, captures Trump gazing skyward, backlit by intense sunlight that forms what some interpreted as a halo or crown — a design choice that may have been meant to evoke a sense of grandeur, but one the president clearly found unflattering.
He continued, calling it a “super bad picture that deserves to be called out.”
A Major Victory Overshadowed?
The controversy comes just hours after Trump returned to Washington from his multi-stop trip through the Middle East, where he oversaw the signing of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
The deal marked a major diplomatic achievement, ending two years of war triggered by the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Under the terms of the agreement:
- Hamas released the final 20 living Israeli hostages
- Israel freed around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners
- Aid is flowing back into Gaza through reopened crossings
- A phased roadmap to regional peace was agreed upon
The president was flanked by world leaders during the signing ceremony in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt — and received praise from various Arab and Western officials.
Time’s Mixed History With Trump
This isn’t the first time Trump has taken aim at Time. While the magazine has frequently featured him on its cover, sometimes critically, it also named him Person of the Year in 2016 after his election victory — and again in 2020, jointly with President Joe Biden, during the pandemic-era transition.
Trump has been visibly sensitive to media portrayals, particularly regarding imagery and headlines. The current Time feature, which describes the Gaza ceasefire deal as a “signature achievement of Trump’s second term” and a “strategic turning point for the region”, nonetheless became the target of his ire over the editorial photo choice.
Public Reaction and Context
The Time cover ignited debate on social media, with Trump supporters echoing his disdain for the image, while critics accused him of focusing on cosmetic complaints rather than substance.
Political commentators noted the irony: a president who just orchestrated the most significant diplomatic breakthrough in the Middle East in decades was more preoccupied with how his hair appeared on a magazine cover.
Still, others defended Trump’s reaction as typical of a public figure who remains image-conscious, especially amid election-year optics and legacy-building efforts.
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