His photo Donald Trump, which was taken to an Atlanta jail as part of his official arrest process, the first time that has happened to a former president in US history, is a source of a priori humiliation. But the billionaire champion of communications policy has already turned it into a formidable marketing weapon for the 2024 presidential election.

With his head tilted slightly forward, a very hard, even aggressive, look of contempt: the photo of the 45th president of the USA, who was captured by the Atlanta sheriff’s department, has been going around the world since Thursday night .

The New York Post, owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch, ran yesterday, Friday, with this photo taking up its entire front page, with no headline.

Instead, the New York Times published it in a very small size in their article also on the front page, which, however, was shared with an article about the supposed death of the head of the Russian mercenary organization Wagner, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

The Persecuted “Hero”

Once the photo was released, Trump supporters portrayed the Republican former president as a “hero” who has been the victim of persecution and a “witch hunt” orchestrated by Joe Biden’s Democrats.

The current president has avoided commenting on the four indictments against his predecessor. But when a reporter asked him yesterday if he had seen the famous photo, Biden replied with a smile: “I saw it on TV. Nice guy.”

For its part, the “Trump 2024” campaign team tapped into the sentiment caused by the photo taken of him as part of the official arrest process, “mugshot” in English, to appeal to every American “patriot”.

In her statement she states that “the deep state is trying to make President Trump public enemy number 1 for daring to challenge the corrupt Washington ruling class” and denounces an “official court photo that portrays him as a criminal in the eyes of the whole world “.

But “President Trump will never abandon our mission to make America great again,” his supporters said, asking for contributions of $47 for a new campaign fundraiser for the Republican nominee, who is leading his rivals in the polls. for the 2024 party primaries.

In return, those who contribute will receive a white t-shirt with this photo and the caption: “NEVER GIVE UP!”.

Back to X

This photo also marks the return of Donald Trump to Twitter, which was renamed X by billionaire Elon Musk who bought it.

His last post on this platform, his once preferred communication channel, was on January 8, 2021. He was banned from it after the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in Washington by supporters.

His ban has now been lifted.

One of his sons, Donald Jr., posted this photo of his father, along with the message: “Hey, the deep state — it’s coming for you. See you Jan. 20, 2025,” which is when he will take over. duties the president of the USA who will be elected in the presidential elections of November 5, 2024.

For Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green, this photo of “our president (…) is what will make him win the 2024 presidential election.”

The “Kubrick Gaze”

This photo has also provided ground on social media for humorous comments and montages, sometimes positive and sometimes negative.

Cinephiles see in Trump’s menacing expression the famous so-called “Kubrick Stare”, named after the British director Stanley Kubrick: The character looks at the camera by tilting his head forward, with an expression that it can frighten the viewer, like Malcolm McDowell in ‘Curly Orange’.

For Daniel Binns, the UK director of New York-based political marketing agency Interbrand, the mug shot’s inversion makes it an “extremely powerful” byproduct of the Trump “brand.”

The former president possesses a form of “(political) marketing genius,” according to the expert. Trump “can take anything that’s been said, everything that he’s been accused of and turn it into something that fits the story he wants to tell.”

For Miro Sernetig, who tells X a creator and developer of brands for companies, “it’s a clever marketing ploy, even if it can be crude.”

“Trump knows better than anyone how to use the media and controversy to promote his brand (…) to monetize a ‘mugshot’ to instantly make millions” of dollars.