Disrupting Trump’s Mug Shot and His “Singular Genius”

Not surprisingly, the arrival of an official Trump mug shot has been the media boon that Trump predicted. According to <a href="https://time.com/6309094/trump-campaign-fundraising-mug-shot/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">reports</a>, the Trump campaign claimed to have raised over 7 million dollars in the three days after his mugshot was released. The image has been everywhere, not just as an illustration for news reports of his booking but as a cultural icon. However worthy the flood of media attention might be, what is ironic is how all the singular focus on the image — the completely calculated stare and ugly scowl sucking up prime media real estate — takes the attention away from the groundbreaking element in the long-running Trump saga: his membership in a collective. Overemphasizing Trump’s mug shot skews the public perception of the case, making it seem more about one individual’s missteps than a complex, multifaceted RICO case. It also detracts from and even contradicts Georgia Attorney General Fani Willis’ unique strategy, choosing to catch him up in a dragnet with almost two dozen others. Yes, the mug shot was and is worth its weight in gold. But if you examine the more collective visual treatment of Trump’s mug shot, it provides a sobering counterweight to the “lone fighter” narrative. The conspiracy charges Willis charged present a powerful opportunity to counter Trump’s visual agenda, but only if the media recognizes and embraces it. By charging Trump as a co-conspirator and the driving force behind an organized crime ring, Willis’s RICO case reduces the power of “Trump almighty.” It’s a perception of the man we’ve hardly seen before, reframing Trump from the singular symbol of defiance to a mere member of a rogues’ gallery. <a href="https://medium.com/@BagNewsNotes/disrupting-trumps-mug-shot-and-his-singular-genius-f5cb1628f13d">Visit Now</a>