I’ll say right now, up front, I love it. This might be the most appealing, brilliant thing Donald Trump has ever done in the realm of politics. If he came up with that expression himself, bravo. As a director, I couldn’t have devised a better one for him under the circumstances.
What the photo communicates is…
- “You think you’ve got me beaten. You don’t. Watch.”
- You’re not hurting me, you silly people. I’m enjoying this.
- “This is ridiculous, and if it your abuse of the legal system weren’t so bad for the country, I’d be laughing rather than making this face.”
- “I’m not afraid of you. You should be afraid of me.”
The first thing I thought of, after I finished laughing—with Trump, not at him—after seeing the photograph, was the scene in “The Alamo,” the 2004 version, where Billy Bob Thornton as Davy Crockett has been captured by the Mexican Army and is about to be shot. (This may or may not have happened, and we’ll never know). As the end approaches, Davy turns to his killers defiantly with a teeth-baring snarl. Liam Neeson’s character does something similar in “The Grey,” when he faces a pack of wolves.
The mug shot will be an invaluable campaign tool. If I could forget about about 85% of the rest of what I know about Donald Trump, it might even make me support him. (I can’t, though.)
The other interpretation of the photo is, of course, that it shows Trump’s contempt for authority and the rule of law, and reveals him to the world as an unrepentant villain. Shouldn’t a former President show that he respects the system? Shouldn’t everybody?
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day is…
Is Trump’s mugshot stunt ethical?
I’ve already made up my mind. I hope that if I’m ever rounded up by an out-of-control government using its legal system for political ends, I’ll have the courage and presence of mind to make that expression.
I may even practice it in the mirror, just to be ready.
***
Added, because I couldn’t resist: Obama also has a mugshot:
Ethics Alarms 
With all the Meme’s and art created from this mugshot that I saw today on “X” (formerly known as twitter) I’d say it was Genius. And the art created from it is AMAZING… and I don’t like him either… but this???
This is the one you thought was spammed, right?
boo i think my comment got eaten, it was short too!
Yes, we must show respect for our system in general – But how do we do it if in an particular instance, the system is being transparently abused? I can’t show respect for this corrupted politicized witch-hunt use of the system he is dealing with.
Regarding his mugshot, I’m afraid the left will run with your 2nd take of it. I think I would’ve gone for a Steve McQueen type mugshot, when he got busted in Alaska, if memory serves, for DUI. Where he has a big shit eating grin while holding up the two finger peace sign. Loved that pic.
The defiant but doomed scenes you bring up remind me of the final one in the tragic, “Breaker Morant”. Where The Breaker stares the firing squad down, “Shoot straight, you bastards. – Don’t make a mess of it!”
Yes, “Breaker Morant” is another good example. Or Angel’s last line in the final moments of that show, as all the demons of darkness, including a fire-brathing, winged dragon, are rampaging across the Earth at Armageddon, with only Angel’s ragtag group of heroes, some gravely wounded, to fight for humanity. It’s hopeless, but Angel says, : “Well, personally, I kinda want to slay the dragon. Let’s go to work!”
I don’t owe ‘the system’ anything. We are supposed to have a government of laws. When ‘the system’ doesn’t uphold those laws, spends taxpayer money to violate those laws, abuses those laws, and uses those laws to harass any citizen who complain about their abuses, it only deserves my contempt.
Let’s look at California this week. We have a storekeeper who beat a repeat-offender armed thief with a stick. The thief is not being charged, the storekeeper is being treated as the criminal. I think the shopkeeper has a good argument that the beating was a protected 1st Amendment exercise. Another armed thief robbed a convenience store and was stopped by a legally armed customer (who never even put down his 12 pack of beer, like a boss). Of course, it is the customer who is being investigated.
In Kansas, we have a newspaper that was raided to keep them from even trying to publish stories about how a local businesswoman kept her DUI out of the public records and the sexual harassment (or worse) committed by the police chief. The judge who signed the warrant had 2 secret DUI’s, but all sorts of ‘legal scholars’ went on TV to say that a judge with secret DUI’s who signs a search warrant to seize the electronic devices and all records from a newspaper and all newspaper employees’ homes to keep them from reporting on secret DUI’s doesn’t have a conflict of interest. The story was only picked up overseas because a 98 year old woman whose home was searched and whose private documents were seized died the next day. Only after international outrage did the US press pick up the story.
Now, let’s look at Hawaii, where we probably have 1000 people dead because:
(1) The government decided sugar cane farming was ‘offensive’ to minorities.
(2) The government took over the land and let it go wild.
(3) The government ignored notice that the grasses growing on the land constituted a fire hazard.
(4) The government demanded the power company divert line maintenance money to fund DIE programs, instead.
(5) The government decided to notify the public of danger using texts, despite the cell phone system being down, because using the sirens would not be ‘equitable’.
(6) The schools sent children home without notifying the parents because they didn’t want to be responsible for the children.
(7) With live powerlines blocking one road out of the danger zone, the police blockaded the other one. They turned people fleeing the fire back into the fire on one side of the blockade and turned away parents trying to save their children on the other side of the blockade. They lied to the parents and told them that the government had already rescued their children, when they government was really planning on letting them burn to death in the fire.
(8) The government is trying to keep information about what happened from getting out by restricting people’s movement and by censorship;.
Name anything the DOJ has done since 2016 that seems to be impartial and a just application of the law? How many employees of the DOJ were revealed to have fabricated evidence, falsified warrants, leaked information they seized from dubious search warrants they were given to surreptitiously acquire such information, leak classified information, commit espionage on the Executive Office of the President, lie to Congress, etc without ever being punished? Now, how many of those very people used the justice system to attack their opponents for much lesser, or even imagined crimes?
What about such a ‘system’ deserves respect? I would say that anyone who ‘respects’ that system is part of the problem. Government officials (the system) are not the government, they are public servants that are supposed to serve the public. Any public servant who abuses their authority for their own power, agenda, or personal gain needs to be removed immediately, not ‘respected’ because of their position.
Would a big beaming grin also convey the same?
I don’t think so. That would come off as false bravado, and would also not be instantly identifiable as THE mugshot. This is more original, sine they didn’t have Polaroids at the Alamo…
Anyway, he’s gonna make a fortune off t-shirt royalties.
That made me laugh out loud, I don’t think the guys running the local Trump 2024 pop-up shops are going to be too worried about paying royalties. Might be something karmic about that.
Before the mug shot was done, I said “I want the t-shirt”
To me, it simply says, loudly and clearly, “I shouldn’t be here.” Of course, the left has described the pose as that of a grade schooler having been hauled into the principal’s office. Frankly, I think that’s apt, so long as they acknowledge the principal is way out of line in this instance. Of course, school administrators never do anything outrageous or destructive these days, do they?
I take it you are not finished writing the article about all of these indictments.
No. A couple, in fact.
I wonder what would have happened if he had chosen to NOT post bail. What would his protective detail done?
He certainly does come off looking like he’s got a hell of a lot of fight left in him.
At the end of the day, I don’t think it matters what his face was doing or conveying during is mug shot, the left was always going to find fault.
If his face was softer, they would point out his fear. If he appeared bored, they’d pounce on his lack of fear. He hasn’t made a mockery of the system, they have. He’s shown up as required, jumped the hoops as required.
So, for me, the ethical choice is have your face show what you feel. A little anger and a lot of defiance seems appropriate given the circumstances.
Don’t forget humor! The photo is funny and intended to se so.
Meanwhile, here is hack news reporting: the MSNBC headline is “Trump’s mug shot will backfire in 2024.” The author is Biden’s former paid liar Jen Psaki. In a masterpiece of the “appeal to authority” fallacy, she writes,
“He thinks this is a political winner for him. But as New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told me in an interview that airs Sunday, “independents hate it.”
Oh! Never-Trump Republican Chris Sununu says that independents hate it! That’s certainly over-whelming proof! Funny, I’m an independent, I can’t stand Trump, but I think it was brilliant. But if Chris Sununu says it will backfire, who am I to challenge him?
But that’s the level of “reporting” you get from MSNBC.
After his re-election, he will show his respect for the system by “going after” those who went after him. Respect the system by going after those who abuse it.
Though, like the “lock her up” slogan, it’s just puffery. Take it seriously, not literally.
He will try to get other people to do for him what he doesn’t want to fail at, coward.
Trump doesn’t mind econ-warfare, but does not seem to my understanding to favor other forms of violence, physical warfare or criminal lawfare. Even the Solemani strike was surgically perfect. Other Presidents leave a wake of literal collateral carnage, yes?
There are a more ways to demonstrate respect than the stately reserved tone of Jonathan Turley.
This whole thing shows what a turd Bill Barr is. He lectured about the whole “Russia Collusion” investigation scandal as something we shouldn’t politicize politics over. Yet he’s all for going after Trump.
I can’t see how what happened in the whole Russia Collusion investigation as FAR worse than anything Trump did.
Might be because I was a Jailer for a short period, I give it a “Meh”. Bravado, backed by the knowledge the intake will be empty except for him, his selected processors, and whoever else the Sheriff allows in. Knowing he is not going to sit in intake for an extended period. Nor placed in a solitary cell while his paperwork is being processed. There will be no strip search. He won’t be placed in a jumpsuit and given slippers to wear. No other inmates will menace him, cry for their mothers, threaten staff, vomit, or piss themselves. Everyone will be exceedingly polite. I can easily imagine a different picture.
Seems like just a few posts ago, I was nodding my head in agreement that, “You come after me, I’m coming after you” was a threat of potential (likely?) abuse of power, verging on disqualifying for political office, especially the presidency.
Now, I’m supposed to believe that (trigger warning) 4th bullet point is somehow okay? That “I’m not afraid of you. You should be afraid of me.” might be okay in a campaign? Might make it okay to vote for the perp?
Gimme a break. He has repeatedly revealed his unfitness for anything equal to or higher than dog catcher.
Oh, yeah, this was a quiz. No. It was not ethical. It is a pitiful and disturbing attempt at intimidation.
I would suggest this entire fiasco is designed to intimidate the electorate.
We will get him and then we will get you if you get in our way.
The bully here is not Trump but a a tyrant with power to make people jump through whatever hoops they want.
You can liken that face to the little kid who eventually faces down the schoolyard bully.
The Mugshot Heard Round the World. It’s probably one of the best things that could happen to the Trump campaign. Almost as soon as the mugshot was released, the memes and merchandise flooded the internet. It’s one of the largest boons a political campaign can receive. America loves an outlaw. Is it ethical? It’s as ethical as anything else in this farce. Malicious compliance is still compliance, regardless of actual motive.
Shall we talk about the latest 2-Minute Hate?
Remember how, during the Trump presidency, we saw relentless articles making fun of the way Trump walked, talked, looked, dressed, drank a bottle of water?
Apparently, he was allowed to self-report his height and weight (which I don’t understand. If you’re arresting someone, would you trust that person to give an accurate build? Your mileage may vary, I guess). Now, I’m seeing article after article that thinks his assessment of his build is worthy of overanalysis.
I’m not sure how to judge whether a mugshot is ethical or not, although it doesn’t seem right to feign being contrite if you’re not, or don’t think you’re guilty.
Don’t have any real analytics on it, but TitterX chatter leads me to believe that Trump could be gaining ground with black voters, and this may have helped him. Some commentary appears to indicate an odd budding sense of comradery among blacks for this white billionaire, seemingly based on the recognition of someone being railroaded by the legal system. The defiant mugshot looks to be strengthening this phenomenon. If this is so, it’s surely not what the dems would have expected, but would serve them right.
Ethical to make a face in a mugshot? Sure. Especially since the mugshot is completely unnecessary. Isn’t the point of a mugshot so the public or police can compare it to the person they’re looking at and use it to verify if that person is the one in the mugshot?
While there may be some undiscovered tribes in Africa or South America that don’t recognize Donald Trump, the rest of the world knows who they’re looking at without having to compare the subject to the mugshot.
If his previous surrenders had all required a mugshot, this mugshot could be forgiven. In this case, the mugshot was meant to intimidate and embarrass Trump, as if this would’ve done it.
He’s not wearing clown make-up, which would be appropriate for this circus. Listening to Fani make the announcement of the indictment sounded like pure bravado; sort of like thumping one’s own chest for finally bagging the animal that no one else could. In other words, delusional.
Anyone curious as to whether or not the mugshot stunt is working for the regime’s persecution of their political opponent like a bunch of banana republic losers?
The answer is that we hardly see the mugshot anymore.