Kamala Harris has been featured on a lot of magazine covers recently. This is to be expected, as she just became the Democratic presidential nominee in an unprecedented last-minute switch, and polls now show her leading the race. But Donald Trump seems upset that he’s losing his main-character status in the press, and one recent cover has really gotten under his skin: this illustration of Harris on his beloved Time magazine.
Trump first brought up her Time cover during his disastrous chat with Elon Musk on Monday night. “She looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live,” he complained. “It was a drawing, and actually, she looked very much like our great First Lady Melania. She didn’t look like Camilla [Kamala], that’s right. But of course, she’s a beautiful woman, so we’ll leave it at that, right?”
Many people pointed out that this was a very weird thing to say, as Harris looks nothing like Melania Trump in the cover image, and comparing your female opponent’s looks to your wife’s is generally a bad move. But Trump is still fixating on the image. He brought it up again during a rally in Asheville, North Carolina, on Wednesday evening, which was ostensibly about the economy but included lots of personal attacks against Harris.
“Now they are putting her on the covers of Time magazine with an artist’s sketch,” Trump said. “They don’t use a picture. They don’t use a picture, they use an artist sketch. I want to use that artist. I want to find that artist, I like him very much.”
Trump mentioned the Time cover yet again during a press conference at his Bedminster, New Jersey residence on Thursday, which was supposed to be about the economy.
“Like the cover of Time magazine,” Trump said. “They didn’t put a picture, they got a great artist to do it. What was that all about? You know? What was that all about? The whole thing is crazy.”
For weeks, conservatives have been making the (arguably dubious) accusation that mainstream-media coverage of Harris has been too positive. A handful of right-wing media outlets have complained about Time’s coverage specifically, calling this week’s cover story too worshipful. But it’s unclear if Trump has even read the piece. His critiques have focused solely on the cover — and not just its portrayal of a hopeful Harris surrounded by excited supporters. Trump’s specific gripe is the vice-president’s appearance; he said “she looks like the most beautiful actress ever to live” and complained that “they don’t use a picture” to show what Harris actually looks like.
Time actually did use a picture to create the cover. Neil Jamieson made the photo illustration, and the magazine also credits “Andrew Harnik — Getty Images.” The illustration appears to incorporate this photo of Harris taken by Harnik last month; while the cover image is stylized, her facial features aren’t altered. (Jamieson did not respond to questions about his process.)
Trump’s issue with the cover is probably based in his long-standing, retro obsession with Time. Trump first appeared on the cover in 1989, and he’s bragged that he’s been featured more than anyone else. That isn’t true; at the end of his presidency, Trump had been on the cover 35 times, putting him fourth behind three other presidents. But he made up for it by putting himself on fake Time covers, which are framed and displayed at at least four of his golf clubs.
Time hasn’t been ignoring Trump. The magazine interviewed him in May, and he was featured on the cover (a subsequent Joe Biden cover was styled similarly):
And Time put out a single-issue edition about the Trump assassination attempt, featuring this undeniably badass photo:
But Trump will not be satisfied until his favorite magazine puts a pretty filter over his face and issues a cover showing Harris with devil horns.
This post was updated to include Trump’s third mention of the Time cover.
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