Former President Donald Trump is making headlines once again — not for politics this time, but for his outrage over a TIME Magazine cover that he claims was deliberately chosen to make him look bad.

The controversy erupted after TIME released its latest cover story celebrating Trump’s role in brokering the recent Gaza ceasefire, a historic agreement that brought an end to nearly two years of devastating conflict between Israel and Hamas. The feature, titled “His Triumph,” praised Trump’s direct involvement in finalizing the multi-phase peace plan — but the former president took issue with the accompanying photograph.

“TIME Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time,” Trump posted on Truth Social shortly after the cover’s release. “They ‘disappeared’ my hair and had something floating on top of my head that looked like a tiny crown — really weird! They did this on purpose.”

The photo, taken from a low angle against a bright sky, shows Trump in his signature navy suit and red tie, gazing upward. Many observers viewed it as a symbol of leadership and determination, but Trump saw it differently — calling it “unflattering” and “a deliberate attempt to make me look strange.”

“I never liked pictures taken from underneath angles, but this one is especially bad,” he added. “It deserves to be called out. What are they doing, and why?”

While Trump has a long history of clashing with the media, even some of his critics admit his reaction this time may not be entirely unfounded. The angle of the photograph does distort the proportions of his face and hair — a stylistic choice that TIME’s editors have not publicly explained.

Still, despite his fury over the image, Trump acknowledged that the article itself treated him “fairly.” The TIME feature described how the president and his diplomatic team — including Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff — spent months coordinating negotiations that ultimately led to the Gaza ceasefire.

“I’m good at solving wars,” Trump told the BBC during a summit in Cairo following the deal. “I’m good at making peace.”

TIME’s story framed the peace deal as a possible “signature achievement” of Trump’s second term, crediting him for personally mediating between Israel, Egypt, Qatar, and Turkey to achieve the agreement. The cover described him as “The Peacemaker Who Still Divides the World.”

But Trump was less focused on the words than on the image. The former president has long been famously particular about his public appearance — especially his hair. Over the years, he has faced endless speculation about its authenticity, prompting him to once declare at a rally, “I don’t wear a toupee. It’s my hair. I swear.”

He’s also been featured on TIME Magazine dozens of times, including as Person of the Year in both 2016 and 2020. Yet his relationship with the publication has often been combative. He has accused its editors of bias in past features, once mocking TIME’s “100 Most Influential People” list as “a total joke.”

This latest flare-up continues that love-hate relationship. “They couldn’t resist,” Trump wrote in a follow-up Truth Social post. “They gave me a decent article, but they had to find the worst picture imaginable. They never learn.”

Political observers were quick to note that Trump’s reaction fits his long-standing media strategy: control the narrative, even when it’s critical. “He understands that fighting with TIME only gives him more attention,” said media analyst Kelly O’Donnell. “It’s classic Trump — turn criticism into coverage.”

Meanwhile, the TIME cover has become one of the magazine’s most shared images in recent memory, circulating widely on social media and sparking debate about whether Trump’s complaints were justified.

For supporters, the photo symbolizes strength — a leader looking upward in triumph. For critics, it’s yet another example of Trump’s obsession with image and ego.

Either way, Trump’s reaction has once again proven his uncanny ability to make every story — even a flattering one — about him. As one commenter on X put it:
“Only Donald Trump could turn a positive TIME cover into a headline about his hair.”