Trump’s Campaign Is Already Hawking Merch With a Fake Mugshot
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Donald Trump, the ex-president, is about to make history as the first former POTUS to be criminally charged. But Donald Trump, the 2024 presidential candidate, isn’t about to let the buzz around his booking go to waste — and he may include using his mugshot in a large campaign marketing blitz.
In recent days, some of Trump’s close aides and advisers have pushed the ex-president to turn his potential mugshot into fuel for a fundraising drive, or as a potent new symbol on 2024 campaign merchandise, three people familiar with the situation tell Rolling Stone.
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The fixation on the mugshot comes with a hitch. Under recent reforms, booking photos in New York are no longer public by default. That means that the release could be delayed until Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hands off case materials to Trump’s legal team, when the former president could make it public. Given immense public interest in the case, the booking photo could also leak.
It’s also possible Trump will not have his mugshot taken. His campaign didn’t wait to find out. Trump’s team sent out an email on Tuesday hawking a “NOT GUILTY” shirt featuring another picture of Trump, along with a placard with the day’s date and 45-47. The top of Trump’s head barely breaches the 6’5″ line on the ruler behind him.
Trump’s campaign just sent an email advertising a mugshot t-shirt saying “NOT GUILTY” (free with $47 contribution) pic.twitter.com/DSjlZOvURl
— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) April 4, 2023
The campaign certainly seems poised, then, to make hay out of Trump’s actual mugshot, should one be taken and they can get their hands on it.
Some advisers have even recommended to Trump that he should attempt to force the issue — by demanding the mugshot at his arraignment and making it public immediately. Trump himself has not made a firm decision. “He didn’t commit to requesting the mugshot [yet], but he didn’t sound opposed to [these ideas],” a source says.
The notion is not without detractors. According to two of the sources, Trump also mentioned to advisers that he’s heard from a few other associates who argue the mugshot should not be made public at all. Similar advice is coming from one of Trump’s own lawyers. Alina Habba, one of Trump’s attorneys, told CNN that releasing the mugshot is “not going to help anything” and that “there’s no need for the theatrics.” John McLaughlin, one of Trump’s most trusted pollsters, tells Rolling Stone on Monday: “We don’t have control of this. [However], if Biden’s ally Bragg pushes for the mugshot and it’s released to humiliate President Trump, it will really backfire.”
However, vanishingly few people in the upper ranks of Trumpland believe that it won’t become public soon, whether Trump makes the first move or not. And there’s a widespread belief that the mugshot would be a gold mine.
Senior members of Team Trump have already casually discussed, the sources say, options for putting the ex-president’s mugshot on merchandise, hats, T-shirts, and other garments, and also for blasting out fundraising pitches to donors and Trump supporters that would include the mugshot, possibly in meme’d format.
One of the sources reveals that Trump was recently briefed that a 2024 fundraising blitz, centered around the potential mugshot, would almost certainly net the Trump campaign millions of dollars. (Trump has already leaned into the infamy of his legal problems as a fundraising tool, announcing Monday his campaign raised $4 million in the first 24 hours after the indictment.)
However, Trump and his staff might not even get the chance to exploit the mugshot they are expecting. On Monday night, multiple news outlets reported that a mugshot was now a possibility, not a guarantee. And according to NBC, as of late Monday, “No DNA will be taken. A potential mugshot is still up in the air. Sources indicated there was some concern it could be leaked.”
Normal political candidates would seek to keep an anticipated felony arrest and booking as quiet as possible. But Trump is not susceptible to the usual emotions of shame. Instead, he sees himself as the victim of a politically motivated prosecution, and is seeking to amplify that message by transforming the spectacle of his arrest and arraignment into a media circus. As Jana Winter reported for Rolling Stone, Trump turned down an offer to be arraigned over Zoom, insisting instead on a midday, high-profile booking in the Manhattan courthouse — the kind of scene he’s convinced will fire-up his supporters.
The substance of the Trump indictment has not yet been made public. However, the grand jury convened by D.A. Bragg has been investigating an October 2016 payment of hush money to the adult actress Stormy Daniels, who was deterred from going public with an account of her alleged extramarital affair with Trump.
The payment to Daniels, initially made by Trump fixer Michael Cohen, was later reimbursed by the Trump Organization in transactions made to look like legal fees. Cohen has served federal prison time for making an illegal campaign contribution. He testified that Trump orchestrated the hush money and its coverup. Trump has denied an affair with Daniels, which allegedly transpired in 2006 and 2007, shortly after the birth of Trump’s fifth child to his third wife.
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