A photo illustration blending portraits of President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is Time magazine's latest provocative cover image.
The mashup for the July issue appears like a Snapchat face swap: Retaining the leaders' light-colored eyes, Trump's signature blonde hair and eyebrows, and Putin's nose. It's a striking cover that comments on the controversy around Trump and Putin's recent summit in Helsinki, Finland.
"A year and a half into his presidency, Trump’s puzzling affinity for Putin has yet to be explained," Brian Bennett writes in the Time cover story.
The image, created by artist Nancy Burson, is meant to illustrate a "particular moment in U.S. foreign policy," Time said in a statement. The issue is set to be released on July 30.
That moment is ripe with confusion about Trump's relationship with Russia. During his meeting with Putin, Trump failed to confront the Russian leader about Moscow's meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Trump has also made conflicting statementsrecently about whether he believes there are ongoing Russian threats to American elections — even walking back a statement he made during his appearance with Putin in Helsinki. When Trump said he couldn't see any reason why Russia "would" have been involved in the U.S. presidential election what he meant to say was "wouldn't."
Trump and his aides appear to still be handling damage control in the face of criticism from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers dismayed by the president's friendly demeanor toward Putin.
The magazine also shared a video showing Trump morphing into Putin.
This isn't "Time" magazine's first cover featuring President Trump. An illustrated cover last month showed Trump looking down at a crying migrant child from an image that went viral during the family separation crisis.
