WASHINGTON
\nFormer US President Donald Trump\u2019s historic mug shot, posted by a Georgia courthouse on Thursday evening, is being turned into T-shirts, shot glasses, mugs, posters and even bobblehead dolls by friends and foes alike.
\nThe shot of Trump with a red tie, glistening hair, and an icy scowl was taken as the Republican presidential front-runner was arrested on more than a dozen felony charges, part of a criminal case stemming from his attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
\nSupporters and campaign managers have embraced the image of his arrest, as they rally around Trump\u2019s claims that the charges against him are politically motivated.
\nTo critics, the photo is a symbol that his long list of legal woes has finally caught up to him.
\nTrump\u2019s Save America fundraising committee is selling \u201cNEVER SURRENDER!\u201d mug shot t-shirts ($34.00), beverage holders ($15.00 for two) and coffee mugs ($25.00). His son Don Jr. is marketing \u201cFREE TRUMP\u201d mug shot t-shirts ($29.99) and posters ($19.99).
\nOn the other side of the political divide, the Lincoln Project, a prominent anti-Trump group founded by Republicans, is selling shot glasses ($55.00 for six) with the mug shot and \u201cFAFO,\u201d an acronym for \u201cFuck Around and Find Out,\u201d a rallying cry among Trump critics. Etsy, the crafts website, has dozens of mocking products, including a Taylor Swift concert t-shirt parody ($26.00).
\nIn Los Angeles, a t-shirt store unaffiliated with any campaign had already started selling tops emblazoned with the image on Friday afternoon.
\n\u201cI think it\u2019s very classic consumerism for this country,\u201d said shopper CJ Butler from Atlanta, Georgia. \u201cHey, it\u2019s Trump. He sells everything so why not have a T-shirt?\u201c
\nThe image could be a huge fundraiser for the Republican candidate, some political strategists predict.
\n\u201cHis superfans are going to see this and it will be a fist-pumping exercise for them to send in that $25 and get that shirt or that mug,\u201d said David Kochel, a veteran Republican presidential campaign operative in Iowa. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of sad at the end of the day that the campaign is going to celebrate his indictment over 13 criminal charges \u2014 but that\u2019s where our politics is.\u201d
\nTrump has for months sought to leverage the criminal probes against him to rally support from his base, starting with his first indictment in New York. His fundraising groups, including his past and current presidential campaigns, have reported investing more than $98 million in merchandise operations since 2015, buying items like bumper stickers, hoodies and coffee mugs to sell.
\nSpeaking to Reuters after the Republican debate on Wednesday, co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita said his team had been focused on turning the four indictments into a positive, \u201cmaking sure that we were making lemonade at every opportunity, which I think we did.\u201d
\nVeterans of other political operations say campaigns can make a 50 percent profit or more on their merchandise sales and LaCivita on Thursday warned off those trying to make money from the image without the campaign\u2019s permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON Former US President Donald Trump\u2019s historic mug shot, posted by a Georgia courthouse on Thursday evening, is being turned into T-shirts, shot glasses, mugs, posters and even bobblehead dolls by friends and foes alike. The shot of Trump with a red tie, glistening hair, and an icy scowl was taken as the Republican presidential […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-351954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n