25/08/2023
Trump’s Mugshot.
1.
A mugshot is a photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is arrested. The original purpose of the mug shot was to allow law enforcement to have a photographic record of an arrested individual to allow for identification by victims, the public and investigators.
Mug is an English slang term for "face", dating from the 18th century. Mug shot can more loosely mean any small picture of a face used for any reason.
A typical mug shot is two-part, with one side-view photo, and one front-view. The background is usually plain to avoid distraction from the head. Mug shots may be compiled into a mug book in order to determine the identity of a criminal. In high-profile cases, mug shots may also be published in newspapers and other media.
2.
All brands need a leitmotif and an aesthetic, and president Donald Trump has spent decades promoting both. The theme is success, wealth, power, and the aesthetic is bright, brassy, tacky and loud—or gaudy and fake. More is more, not less is more. In person, the Trump look is that distinctive hair, oversize blue suits and long, shiny red ties. Architecturally, it’s gilt and mirrors, as in his famous marble-and-gold Trump Tower apartment, with its canopy beds, fresco-style ceilings and colossal chandeliers. Angelo Donghia designed the Trump apartment, decorated in 24K gold and marble, in Louis XIV style. It is easy, almost too easy, to draw parallels to other despots and dictators, who have used the same style; often, however, with a little medieval castle involved. The line from Herman Göring, Sadam Hussein, Victor Yanukovich is obvious.
In Donald Trump’s mug shot taken at the Fulton County Jail on Thursday, he’s looking straight into the camera. His platinum blonde cotton candy wisp of hair shimmering in the harsh jailhouse lighting. The self-tanner has also been in use. His eyes locked in a hard stare. His eyebrows are raised, a silent command of submission and obedience. His mouth flattened in a grimace. Instead of smiling like some of his co-defendants, he appears to be scowling. Gaining power through the gaze and scowl is a way to indirectly secure narcissistic supply and power.
Trump confronts the camera in front of a bland gray backdrop, his eyes meeting the lens in an intense glare. He’s wearing a blue suit, white shirt and the red tie, his shoulders squared, his head tilted slightly toward the camera. The sheriff’s logo has been digitally added above his right shoulder.
The mug shot was released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office roughly an hour after the former President was booked as inmate P01135809 over charges that he illegally schemed to overturn his 2020 election loss in Georgia.
Donald Trump’s photo is significant because it’s the first time a criminal mug shot has been taken of any U.S. president or former president.
On Thursday evening, his PAC already started to fundraise off the mug shot with T-shirts. Those who donated $47 or more - the number 47 indicating his possibly being elected the 47th president - got a free shirt with the words “NEVER SURRENDER.” Trump also posted the photo on Truth Social with the words “ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
Trump was booked Thursday at the Fulton County Jail, where he got his fingerprints and mug shot taken. His height was recorded as 6 feet, 3 inches, and his weight as 215 pounds. The photo was released a short while later and instantly drew attention on social media.
Before the mug shot was even released, the term was trending on X, the platform formally known as Twitter, and fake mug shots of Trump circulated on the site.
3.
A camera clicks in a prison. In a fraction of a second, the shutter opens and then closes, freezing forever the image in front of it.
When the camera shutter clicked inside the jail in downtown Atlanta on Thursday, it both created and documented a tiny inflection point in American life. Captured for posterity, there was a former president of the United States, for the first time in history, under arrest and captured in the sort of frame more commonly associated with drug dealers or drunken drivers. The trappings of power gone, for that split second.
Left behind is an enduring image that will appear in history books long after Donald Trump is gone. However his message in his aggressive face is clear, I’m not go I ready to fight, fear me.
4.
Why is the face important? The face is the showroom of the self. The face is the showroom of the self because it immediately shows our age, gender, ethnic background, health, character traits and mood. The face is presence here and now, via the face we distinguish ourselves from all other people, when we see our face, we are part of the self-reflexive project that involves creating ourselves in relation to others, i.e. a social individual among other individuals. Trump adds aggressive contact to the otherwise passive mugshot, he is not cowed or captured. He is trying to signal that I can break out, I will come back.
