Trump’s new Time cover draws 'chilling' parallels to infamous Nazi portrait
President Donald Trump's new Time magazine cover has drawn a "chilling" similarity to a historic Nazi image, according to a report.
The portrait of Trump, released online Friday ahead of the print version, shows Trump behind his Oval Office desk, leaning forward with his hands under his chin in "a power pose that obscures his often bruised right hand and his loose neck skin," according to The Daily Beast. A headline above reads "TRUMP'S WORLD." Steven Voss, a Washington-based photographer, shot the photo.
The new cover follows Trump's harsh response to the recent Time cover image of him that was shot from below him, highlighting his neck.
Although the 79-year-old has not shared his thoughts yet, his chief communications officer, Steven Cheung, was apparently pleased with the portrait.
"TRUMP'S WORLD," Cheung wrote on X.
But The Beast reported the cover "owes its visual language to one of the most chilling portraits of the 20th century."
"The Daily Beast has learned that the composition on the new Time cover is inspired by Arnold Newman’s 1963 photograph of Alfred Krupp, the German industrialist and convicted Nazi war criminal. That portrait, published by Newsweek, has long been considered among the most psychologically charged images ever produced for a weekly news magazine," The Beast reports.
Newman, who was a Jewish photographer born in 1918 in Manhattan, had resisted taking the photo of Krupp, a Nazi war criminal.
“When the editors asked me to photograph him, I refused,” he later told American Photo magazine, citing ethical concerns. “I said, ‘I think of him as the devil.’ They said, ‘Fine—that’s what we think.’ So I was stuck with the job.”
When he did photograph Krupp, he told him to lean forward and clasp his hands — much like the new Trump image released Friday.
Voss, who took the new cover photo of Trump, apparently has confirmed the resemblance, liking comments on Instagram that pointed to the likeness. He has not commented or issued a direct statement yet.
A Time spokesperson, however, told Raw Story in a statement: “There is no connection and claims suggesting otherwise are completely untrue. The references for this photoshoot were past presidential portraits in the Oval Office, including TIME's own covers. Giving weight to speculation on social media is reckless and contributes to the spread of misinformation.”