Why no hair and an ‘extremely small’ crown? Trump slams Time cover

U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Time magazine, calling a cover photo that accompanied a feature on his Middle East peace deal “the Worst of All Time.”

“Time Magazine wrote a relatively good story about me, but the picture may be the Worst of All Time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social early on Tuesday. “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!” He went on to call the image “a super bad picture that deserves to be called out.”

The Time cover, unveiled Monday with the headline “His Triumph,” features a photo taken from below Trump of the president gazing up, seemingly backlit by bright sunlight.

The issue marks the magazine’s acknowledgment of what it called “a signature achievement of Trump’s second term” and a “strategic turning point” for the Middle East: the first phase of a peace agreement between Israel and Hamas that has led to the release of all Israeli hostages held in Gaza and the freeing of around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israel.

Trump’s remarks came hours after he concluded visits to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, where he oversaw the signing of the Gaza peace deal — a plan he personally championed and which formally ended two years of conflict following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked war in the region.

The president, who has been both criticized and praised for his approach to Middle East diplomacy, has a long and complicated history with Time magazine. The publication has often featured him on its cover, sometimes unflatteringly, but has also named him Person of the Year twice.