Former President Donald Trump bragged about his mugshot at a recent rally in Pennsylvania, claiming it to be the best-selling Mugshot of all time, beating out those of the legendary singers Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
Trump spoke at a rally on Wednesday, July 31, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he told his audience that he was being indicted for them. He then asked them how they liked his mugshot, which made the crowd laugh. Trump then said his father and mother were “looking down” from heaven and saying they could not believe their son “took a mugshot, this is unbelievable.”
The famous mugshot was taken on Aug. 24, 2023, after Trump turned himself in at the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, to be booked after he was indicted on charges of racketeering and more.
Trump bragged to the crowd that his mugshot was now “the number one-selling” in history, beating out Presley and Sinantra’s famous mugshots. The former president said he was “proud to admit” that his supporters have made his mugshot “bigger than both of them by a lot.” Trump added that he still isn’t sure if he’s exactly “happy about it” or likes this fact.
Regardless if Trump likes it or not, his campaign did not hesitate to immediately capitalize on the image, releasing the image on all sorts of merchandise.
Following a long hiatus from Twitter (since rebranded as “X”) after he was banned from the social media app following the events of Jan. 6, 2021, Trump was restored to the platform by Elon Musk at the end of 2022. Trump promised not to use it anymore after he was banned, instead favoring his own social media platform Truth Social. He chose to break that promise and returned the same day of his booking in Georgia, making his first post since 2021 the famous mugshot, which went viral instantly.
While his supporters view the image of Trump, who looks angry, as a symbol of the former president’s will to fight, his enemies have used it to discredit him amongst their base. For example, the Lincoln Project released its own merchandise featuring the image and attacking Trump.
Trump has leaned into his felon image and even gave a t-shirt featuring the mugshot to well-known social media influencer Logan Paul as a gift when he sat down for an interview with Paul in June.
