The presidential campaign of Donald Trump announced on Sunday, August 27, that it had garnered $7.1 million in donations following the release of the mug shot of the Republican billionaire. This release occurred after he was arrested and booked on charges of racketeering and conspiracy at a Georgia jail earlier in the week.
Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said Sunday that it has raised $7.1 million since the Republican billionaire’s mug shot was released after he was booked on racketeering and conspiracy charges at a Georgia jail this week.
The campaign had quickly embraced the scowling image of the former president, the first mug shot of a serving or former US leader, as the symbol of his bid to take back the White House in 2024.
T-shirts, mugs, stickers and beverage coolers bearing the mug shot, arguably now the most famous in US history, were put out by Trump’s team within hours of the photo’s release.
While such a photo would surely sink any other political candidate, for 77-year-old Trump it plays into his narrative of a defiant, heroic victim.
Marketing experts have even likened it to the “Hope” poster from Barack Obama’s successful 2008 presidential campaign.
Democrats have also used it, however, suggesting that it shows no one is above the law.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
