If Trump's mugshot is made public it would cement him as an 'outlaw' and could make him a folk hero like Al Capone, presidential historian says

If Trump's mugshot is made public it would cement him as an 'outlaw' and could make him a folk hero like Al Capone, presidential historian says
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  • If Trump's mugshot is made public, it could turn him into a folk hero, historian Douglas Brinkley says.

  • "Trump fits very easily into a narrative of folk heroes" like Al Capone, Brinkley said.

  • New York law generally bars the release of mugshots but it's possible that Trump's could be leaked.

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury. He's the first former US president to ever face criminal charges, and there's no comparable moment in the country's history, presidential historian Douglas Brinkley told NPR on Friday.

"We've never had anything like this," Brinkley said. "This is the first time that it really seems likely that the former president of the United States will be having a mugshot, being fingerprinted."

Trump is planning to surrender to the Manhattan district attorney's office next week, probably on Tuesday, according to his attorney Joe Tacopina. Though he's an ex-world leader, that doesn't mean Trump will get special treatment — but he's unlikely to be handcuffed.

That said, Trump will have to pose for a mugshot.

Under New York law, police are barred from publicly releasing mugshots unless doing so serves a specific purpose for law enforcement — such as aiding in the search for a wanted or missing person. In Trump's case, his mugshot likely won't see the light of day unless it is leaked. Mugshots of public figures taken in New York have been leaked in the past.

During an episode of his YouTube show "Justice Matters" on Thursday, legal analyst Glenn Kirschner suggested that Trump's mugshot "will become publicly available pretty promptly."

 

If the public does get a chance to see the mugshot, it would cement Trump's status as an "outlaw" among presidents and could make him a folk hero for some Americans, Brinkley said.

"As a presidential historian, I've had a hard time connecting him to the tradition of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and the Roosevelts," Brinkley said of Trump. "But Trump fits very easily into a narrative of folk heroes, like outlaw folk heroes like Al Capone and Dillinger, Billy the Kid."

"The public likes their outlaw figure sometimes, and I think that's where we have to look at President Trump at this point," Brinkley went on to say, adding that this is a "monstrous story of huge size and importance" given Trump is the leader of the Republican party and running for reelection in 2024.

Similarly, Fox News host Pete Hegseth on Thursday suggested that Trump's mugshot would make him a "hero," likening the former president to celebrities who also had to pose for law enforcement such as Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Jimi Hendrix, and Mick Jagger.

"If there is a mugshot of Donald Trump it will be on dorm rooms and on T-shirts, making him a hero," Hegseth said on "Hannity," adding, "And rightfully so because he has become a symbol of what elites and those obsessed with power are willing to do when they have that power."

The emeritus Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who served on Trump's legal team during his first impeachment trial, told Newsmax on Thursday night that the former president could use his mugshot as a campaign poster.

"He will be mug-shot and fingerprinted," Dershowitz said. "There's really no way around that."

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