The Daily Scoop: The promise and peril of political mugshots

Former President Donald Trump is currently facing his fourth set of criminal charges, this time in Georgia tied to a racketeering case centering around allegations that he and 18 others conspired in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The other three times Trump has been indicted, he’s managed to avoid a humiliating rite of passage for anyone accused of a crime: the mugshot.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat told reporters that it “doesn’t matter your status. We’ll have mug shots ready for you,” NPR reported.

And, indeed, many of Trump’s co-defendants have already turned themselves in for booking and have had their mugshots taken and released as a public record, including “America’s Mayor” Rudy Giuliani, who served as Trump’s personal attorney.

Trump is widely expected to turn himself in today and have his own mugshot taken — and then this story will really begin.

Why it matters:

Everything about this situation embodies the word “unprecedented.” But while it’s one thing to hear that a former president has been indicted, it’s quite another to see a mugshot that will appear on every website, news channel, newspaper and social media app in existence.

But it will go beyond being news and become a political football.

NPR notes that, “such a photo could further galvanize Trump’s supporters and burnish the baseless narrative that he is a victim of a politically biased justice system.” Indeed, some defendants are already treating it as a badge of honor — Former Georgia Republican Party Chair David Shafer is using the mugshot as his profile photo on X/Twitter.

Good morning! #NewProfilePicture pic.twitter.com/EADF0zYSSH

— David Shafer (@DavidShafer) August 23, 2023

You can expect that Trump has practiced his mugshot to strike just the right tone (NPR expects it to be “mix of defiant and wronged,” though a smile is not out of the question). Expect it to immediately appear on fundraising merch — NPR reported that his team sold fake mugshots in the wake of earlier indictments.

And naturally, his political opponents will also latch onto the mugshot to paint Trump as a criminal who does not deserve reelection.

But will any of that matter when Trump is the frontrunner in the Republican primary — something the first debate did little to change?

“Either way, the mugshot has become as divisive a PR tool as the political landscape it’s situated in.”

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Allison Carter is executive editor of PR Daily. Follow her on Twitter or LinkedIn.