Donald Trump’s mugshot, the first of a former US president, is an inherent source of humiliation. But the billionaire and political communications champion has already turned it into a formidable marketing weapon for the 2024 presidential election.
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Head slightly tilted forward, very hard, even aggressive gaze, as a sign of defiance: the “mug shot” of the 45th President of the United States, immortalized by the Atlanta Sheriff’s Services for history, has been going around the world since Thursday Evening.
The tabloid New York Post, owned by Conservative magnate Rupert Murdoch, made its front page on Friday, with the photo taking up an entire page. Untitled.
On the contrary, the New York Times, a left-leaning newspaper in the United States, reduced the photo to the size of a medallion to illustrate an article that also made the front page but ended it with the supposed death of the US leader shares Russian group Wagner, Yevgeny Prigoyine.
As soon as the legal stereotype became public, supporters of Donald Trump portrayed the former Republican President as a “hero” who was the victim of persecution and a “witch hunt” orchestrated by the Democrats led by Joe Biden.
The incumbent president is careful not to comment on his predecessor’s four indictments. But when asked by a journalist on Friday if he had seen the famous photo, Joe Biden replied with a smile: “I saw it on TV. A handsome guy.”
For its part, the Trump 2024 campaign team immediately used the “mugshot” effect by making an appeal to every American “patriot.”
The statement alleges that “the shadow state is attempting to make President Trump public enemy number one for daring to challenge the corrupt Washington ruling class,” and denounced an “official forensic photo that caught his eye.” represented to the whole world as a criminal”. “
But “President Trump will never abandon our mission to make America great again,” chanted his supporters, demanding a $47 donation from the Republican candidate for a new fundraiser well ahead of the 2024 election for his party’s primary.
In return, everyone receives a white t-shirt with their ID photo and the slogan “NEVER GIVE UP!”. (“NEVER GIVE UP!”).
The photo also marks Donald Trump’s return to Twitter, renamed the X by billionaire Elon Musk, who bought it.
His last post on this platform, once his favorite channel of communication, was on January 8, 2021. He was banned from it after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol led by his supporters.
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This ban has since been lifted.
So one of Trump’s sons, Donald Jr., reposted his father’s “mug shot” along with a threatening message: “Hey, the shadow state — it’s coming for you. See you January 20, 2025,” the day of the inauguration of the President, which will be elected on November 5, 2024.
And for far-right Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene, this photo of “our president (…) is the one who will win the 2024 presidential election.”
The cliché is also deflected on social networks in montages and humorous memes, positive or hostile.
Moviegoers see Donald Trump’s menacing face as a nod to the famous “Kubrick Stare,” named after British director Stanley Kubrick: the character stares at the camera, tilting his head forward with an expression that which can startle the viewer. like Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange.
For Daniel Binns, the British head of New York political marketing agency Interbrand, the distraction of the “mug shot” makes it an “extremely powerful” derivative of the “brand” Trump.
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According to this expert, the former tycoon has something of a political “marketing genius”. Donald Trump “can take anything that’s said, anything that’s accused of him, and turn it into something that fits the story he wants to tell.”
For Miro Cernetig, who presents on X as a creator and developer of brands for companies, the “marketing stunt is brilliant, even if it can be gross”.
“Trump knows better than anyone how to use the media and controversy to advance his brand (…) monetize a ‘mug shot’ to make millions of dollars instantly.”