• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, July 3, 2017

Donald J. Trump last week claimed to be running a “modern day presidency” utilizing Twitter and other social media to bypass journalistic media outlets, but he appears to be obsessed with the latter. Nothing reveals that obsession more than how he covets Time magazine cover play.

Last week, the Washington Post broke a story revealing that fake versions of the vaunted news magazine featuring Trump on its cover have been hanging on walls at Trump resorts worldwide.

On January 21, in his first full day in office, President Trump stepped up his “war with the media” during an infamous speech at CIA headquarters, but boasted the false statement that he had “set a record” for the most Time magazine covers.

According to Time magazine, former President Richard Nixon actually held that record.

An analysis of Time magazine covers released last week by Statista indicates that Trump ranks only fifth in terms of the most number of the magazine’s covers among modern-day presidents, behind Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

The analysis includes the individuals’ play on Time magazine covers before and after being President.

Noting that Trump originally claimed to be on Time’s cover “14 or 15 times,” Statista Data Journalist Dyfed Loesche quipped that it’s possible he was counting the fake version of Time magazine as his 15th one.