On October 13, 2025, Time magazine published the cover of its November 10 issue, featuring President Donald Trump, titled “His Triumph.”
The cover story praised Trump’s role in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, describing the agreement as a “signature achievement of Trump’s second term” and a “strategic turning point for the Middle East.”
The agreement, signed in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, facilitated the release of the 20 remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas since October 7, 2023, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of approximately 360 Palestinians.
Trump had just returned from a diplomatic tour of Israel and Egypt, where he met with the families of the hostages, addressed the Israeli Knesset, and hailed the pact as “the beginning of a new era.”
The cover photo, taken from a low angle with sunlight backlit on Trump, created a halo effect around his head. This made his hair appear thin and translucent, blending in with the bright sky, while also highlighting his neck and stern expression.
Trump, in a post on Truth Social at 1:36 a.m. ET on October 14 aboard Air Force One, called it “the worst ever,” accusing the magazine of “making my hair disappear” and adding “something floating above my head that looked like a floating crown, but extremely small. Really weird!” He noted that the accompanying article was “relatively good,” but demanded to know, “What are they doing and why?” This incident fits a pattern: Trump has a history of fixating on unflattering images, such as criticizing a windy 2020 photo as “Photoshopped,” angrily criticizing a 2025 portrait of the Colorado Capitol as “purposefully distorted,” and obsessing over Steve Bannon’s 2017 Time cover as a “zero-sum” slight.
Low-angle shots like this are a common photographic technique for conveying power or heroism, but they can distort features in unflattering ways, especially when backlit.
The cover and Trump’s negative reaction generated an immediate and widespread stir in the media and social networks, amplifying the visibility of the Gaza deal and overshadowing its substantial praise.
By midday on October 14, the story dominated US headlines in outlets including The Washington Post, Daily Beast, Variety, USA Today, Forbes, TMZ, New York Daily News, The Hill, Newsweek, Fox News, The Independent, Yahoo, Politico, and People. International coverage appeared in The Times of India and The Telegraph.
Time X’s post about the cover generated significant engagement, and the magazine’s caption focused on the hostage release and the potential for peace. This inadvertently boosted Time’s visibility, as Trump’s rant turned a political news story into viral entertainment.
On X (formerly Twitter), reactions skyrocketed within hours. Searches for “Time magazine cover Trump didn’t like” generated thousands of posts, and semantic searches generated memes, defenses, and criticisms.
Supporters like Kari Lake (acting executive director of the US Agency for Global Media) created and promoted a fake, heroic cover image, urging MAGA followers to “share this cover so the world can see the strength of our great President Trump instead of the one the Fake News Time magazine published.”
Critics mocked Trump, calling him vain; one user suggested that “Time magazine must have hated putting Trump on their cover without devil horns,” and another anti-Trump user joked that it would be “terrible if people kept publishing it.”
X’s broader rant referenced past Time magazine controversies, such as its 2024 decision to replace the post-assassination photo of Trump with a less iconic one following a left-wing backlash.
Engagement metrics showed high virality, with posts like Kirill Dmitriev’s (executive director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund) poll “Which Photo Looks Good on a Peacemaker?” racking up more than 2,400 likes. Political echoes: Trump’s post distracted from his diplomatic victory, and even MSNBC and liberals’ unusual praise for the Gaza deal was buried under hair jokes.
California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office issued a satirical statement about X, mimicking Trump’s style, intensifying partisan criticism. Globally, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Trump to exert similar pressure on Putin for peace in Ukraine, linking the incident to broader foreign policy aspirations.
The repercussions were primarily situational and cultural, with no indication of policy changes, but they highlighted persistent media tensions and Trump’s personal sensitivities.
In the long term, it could erode trust in traditional media among conservatives, boosting platforms like Truth Social and reminding photographers of Trump’s preferences in image control.
This episode exemplifies the collision between substantial achievements and personal vanity in Trump’s orbit. A historic peace deal garnered unusual bipartisan acclaim, but a single photo hijacked the narrative to the point of absurdity. It justifies criticism of Trump for his image obsession—evoking his more than 35 covers and previous disputes at Time—while also exposing the media’s power to provoke through images.
For his supporters, it is evidence of the sabotage of “fake news”; for his detractors, a ridiculous distraction from political victories. Ultimately, the cover immortalized Trump’s “triumph,” but at the cost of reinforcing divisions, and the true legacy of the Gaza deal (hostage release, regional stability) will likely outlast the memes. As one X user pointed out, in peacetime or not, Trump’s hair remains a battleground.
