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TIME magazine has never been afraid to ruffle feathers and use its cover as a way to contribute and reflect current affairs, as well as spark debate. Its upcoming issue has done just that, dividing social media and going viral mere hours after its unveiling.
The 23 March issue’s powerful and striking cover features a collection of eight MAGA hats with “America” replaced with the name of nations including Iran, Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq and Syria.
It serves to illustrate the publication’s feature story titled “Trump’s War” by Eric Cortellessa, who examines not only the aftermath of the strike that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader but also how Donald Trump’s MAGA slogan seems to extend to his foreign policy – despite Trump running for reelection as the self-styled “Peace President”.
“Trump promised to end wars, not start them,” reads an extract from the article, which has been circulating online. “Instead, he has deployed military force in increasingly dizzying ways. No other modern American leader has directed assaults in as many countries in such a short span of time.”
As of writing, the TIME post on X featuring the cover has amassed nearly 800K views, with reactions ranging from praise for TIME’s political commentary to outrage given the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Surprisingly (or maybe not?), many Trump supporters seem to have misinterpreted the cover, which comments on the ills of American interventionism.
MAGA supporters online are praising the cover for championing Trump, with one user writing: “Trump delivers. Like him or not, you can’t say this about many other Presidents before him. Kudos to Trump.” Another states that TIME “has certainly come a long way”, while one adds: “I am surprised that THIS is the new cover of TIME Magazine. Even they are recognizing our President Trump as a major consequential historical figure.”
One fan even posted a picture of Trump with the caption: “We did not elect him to be nice – we elected him to get the job done.”
There has been some pushback over the cover being pro-Trump.
One user wrote “I love all of the MAGA Cult members who think TIME is praising him here”, while another penned: “I think this is meant to be subversive.. like Trump is more interested in other countries than the actual one he promised to ‘make great again’.”
Many also reshared a drawing by Carlos Latuff…
Some criticism even came from his MAGA base, buttressing the results of a new poll from Fox News which shows that more than half (57 per cent) of US citizens disapprove of Trump’s performance in office.
“Trump campaigned on “no new wars” “wanting the dying to stop” and “on day one I will end all foreign wars” – Total and complete betrayal of MAGA and America First. We never changed. Trump did.”
The recent Fox News survey shows the majority of voters are unhappy with Trump’s handling of immigration, foreign policy and the economy. Six in ten said Trump was focused on the wrong issues.
However you choose to interpret TIME’s latest cover, one user managed to sum things up nicely: “Eight countries, eight red caps, zero words needed – Time made the most efficient political argument of the year without writing a single sentence.”