Former President Donald Trump was arraigned in Georgia on Thursday, and as part of that process, he was fingerprinted and had his mugshot taken at the jail located in Fulton County. Almost right off the bat, the photo was released to the general public and went viral, though maybe not necessarily for the reason most would think. It’s an iconic image, so much so that the Trump 2024 campaign immediately had merchandise ready to sell featuring the photo. This might be the greatest political marketing of all time, ladies and gentlemen. Trump really is kind of a genius.
You know this is making the radical left furious too. They were hoping that all of these indictments would destroy his chances of winning the Republican Party primary race and remove him from the playing field so he wouldn’t be going against President Joe Biden — who is currently watching his poll numbers swirl around the bottom of the toilet bowl — in the general election next year.
Instead, the image is helping him raise funds for his campaign and turning him into a modern-day folk hero, spreading his message far beyond his loyal base of voters. No doubt, the persecution of Trump by the radical left-wing deep state that has weaponized federal law enforcement against him, is making him even more popular among regular Americans. By trying to destroy his chances of becoming the president once again, they are almost assuredly increasing the likelihood of the very outcome they are desperate to prevent.
According to The Daily Wire:
Trump was arrested and booked at the Fulton County Jail Thursday evening on charges that he conspired to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Within hours, the Trump campaign’s website was selling t-shirts and long-sleeved shirts for $34, mugs for $25, beer Koozies for $15, and bumper stickers for $12.
“NEVER SURRENDER!” reads the caption on the mugshot products. The merch is sold by Trump Save America, a joint fundraising committee for Donald J. Trump for President 2024 and Save America. Other vendors had shops with mugshot merch up and running almost instantly as well.
Trump’s booking photo made instant history as it is the first mugshot ever taken of a former or current U.S. president. The snap is also the first time Trump has had a mugshot taken, although he was previously arrested in a separate criminal case. The former president faces charges in four separate criminal cases.
In the state of Georgia, the former president is now facing a total of 13 counts, which include racketeering, fraud, making false statements, and allegedly asking public officials to violate their oath of office. Friday is the deadline set for Trump and the 18 others who were named in the indictment to turn themselves in to local law enforcement.
Trump was then released from the county jail on a $200,000 bond, which is a term he personally agreed to earlier in the week. Along with that, the Republican presidential candidate also agreed to terms that would restrict his ability to post about his co-defendants or witnesses involved in the case as part of the terms for his release.
Right after his arrest on Thursday, the former commander-in-chief posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, for the very first time in over two years. Many had predicted that he would be coming back to the site as part of his campaign, as he had amassed an enormous following there during the course of his presidency, which he used as a communication tool to reach his base.
Trump shared his own mugshot, along with a link to his presidential campaign website.
“Today, at the notoriously violent jail in Fulton County, Georgia, I was ARRESTED despite having committed NO CRIME,” Trump says on the fundraising site’s landing page. “But today, I walked into the lion’s den with one simple message on behalf of our entire movement: I WILL NEVER SURRENDER OUR MISSION TO SAVE AMERICA.”
“If you are doing poorly due to the sinister people in control of our country right now, don’t even think about donating!” the message continues, asking folks to donate financially if they are able to.
Just a few hours after being taken into custody, Trump took a shot at the authorities in Georgia for bringing the 18 other individuals into the indictment, stating their lives have now been destroyed by the criminal charges.
“Those people that have been so unfairly dragged into this, these are high-quality people who don’t even know why they were brought in,” Trump went on to say during an interview on Newsmax, according to the Daily Wire. “Those people have to be released. They have to be released from this horrible thing that they’re going through.”
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