Former US president Donald Trump’s historic mug shot, posted by a Georgia courthouse on Thursday evening, is being turned into T-shirts, shot glasses, mugs, posters and even bobblehead dolls by friends and foes alike.
The shot of Trump with a red tie, glistening hair and an icy scowl was taken as the Republican presidential front-runner was arrested on more than a dozen felony charges, part of a criminal case stemming from his attempts to overturn the 2020 US presidential election.
Supporters and campaign managers have embraced the image of his arrest, as they rally around Trump’s claims that the charges against him are politically motivated.
Photo: Reuters
To critics, the photo is a symbol that his long list of legal woes has finally caught up to him.
Trump’s Save America fundraising committee is selling “NEVER SURRENDER!” mug shot T-shirts (US$34.00), beverage holders (US$15.00 for two) and coffee mugs (US$25.00). His son Donald Trump Jr is marketing “FREE TRUMP” mug shot T-shirts (US$29.99) and posters (US$19.99).
On the other side of the political divide, the Lincoln Project, a prominent anti-Trump group founded by Republicans, is selling shot glasses (US$55.00 for six) with the mug shot and “FAFO,” an acronym for “Fuck Around and Find Out,” a rallying cry among Trump critics. Etsy, the crafts Web site, has dozens of mocking products, including a Taylor Swift concert T-shirt parody (US$26.00).
In Los Angeles, a T-shirt store unaffiliated with any campaign had already started selling tops emblazoned with the image on Friday afternoon.
“I think it’s very classic consumerism for this country,” said shopper CJ Butler from Atlanta, Georgia. “Hey, it’s Trump. He sells everything so why not have a T-shirt?”
The image could be a huge fundraiser for the Republican candidate, some political strategists predict.
“His super-fans are going to see this and it will be a fist-pumping exercise for them to send in that US$25 and get that shirt or that mug,” said David Kochel, a veteran Republican presidential campaign operative in Iowa. “It’s kind of sad at the end of the day that the campaign is going to celebrate his indictment over 13 criminal charges — but that’s where our politics is.”
Trump has for months sought to leverage the criminal probes against him to rally support from his base, starting with his first indictment in New York. His fundraising groups, including his past and current presidential campaigns, have reported investing more than US$98 million in merchandise operations since 2015, buying items like bumper stickers, hoodies and coffee mugs to sell.
Co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita said after the Republican debate on Wednesday that his team had been focused on turning the four indictments into a positive, “making sure that we were making lemonade at every opportunity, which I think we did.”
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
The United States Federal Communications Commission said on Wednesday it plans to adopt rules to bar companies from connecting undersea submarine communication cables to the US that include Chinese technology or equipment. “We have seen submarine cable infrastructure threatened in recent years by foreign adversaries, like China,” FCC Chair Brendan Carr said in a statement. “We are therefore taking action here to guard our submarine cables against foreign adversary ownership, and access as well as cyber and physical threats.” The United States has for years expressed concerns about China’s role in handling network traffic and the potential for espionage. The U.S. has
A disillusioned Japanese electorate feeling the economic pinch goes to the polls today, as a right-wing party promoting a “Japanese first” agenda gains popularity, with fears over foreigners becoming a major election issue. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic, spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the Sanseito Party has widened its appeal ahead of today’s upper house vote — railing against immigration and dragging rhetoric that was once confined to Japan’s political fringes into the mainstream. Polls show the party might only secure 10 to 15 of the 125 seats up for grabs, but it is
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
RSS