Explained: Why Donald Trump’s jail mug shot is a big deal

Donald Trump has had his photo snapped innumerable times till now. But his new picture is a little different, bearing a significance of its own. The Republican leader got his mug shot taken on Thursday (24 August) at an Atlanta jail as he surrendered to face charges for trying to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election results in the state of Georgia.As per Sky News, Trump was released less than half an hour after surrendering at Atlanta’s Fulton County Jail as he paid the agreed $200,000 bond.Let’s take a closer look at why Donald Trump’s mug shot is a big deal.Brief history of mug shotsAccording to The Economist newspaper, the mug shot, as we know it today, was invented by Alphonse Bertillon, a French policeman and anthropologist, to set up a system to nab serial offenders.After an arrest, the suspect’s photo was taken and the person was measured with various instruments. “The method was painstakingly prescriptive: the correct way to measure the length of the head was outlined in 18 steps. If police suspected they had a repeat offender on their hands, they could use his measurements to find his filed mug shot, should it exist,” says The Economist article.This picture was called portrait parlé, or speaking image. Although Bertillon’s measurements have made way for fingerprinting now, mug shots have survived. They have helped authorities identify the accused if they flee or do not appear in court, and later, to use it if they are a suspect in another crime.From American singer Frank Sinatra and English musician David Bowie to civil-rights activist John Lewis, there are many celebrity mug shots.Although for a US president – former or incumbent – this is a first. The closest an American president came to getting his picture taken by the police was when in 1872 Ulysses S Grant was taken to a local police station in Washington, DC for speeding in his horse-drawn carriage. But there was no mug shot taken, as per Time magazine.Why Donald Trump’s mug shot mattersTrump’s mug shot shows the 77-year-old former US president glaring at the camera lens. Donning a blue suit, white shirt and red tie, his mouth is “flattened in a grimace”, noted Time.The Fulton County Sheriff's Office booked Trump as inmate P01135809 and listed him as a “White Male 6’ 3” 215 lbs” (approximately 98 kg) with “Blond or Strawberry” hair and “blue” eyes.While what the image conveys may differ for the former president’s followers and his critics, one thing that is certain is that it is a historic photo.“It will be forever part of the iconography of being alive in this time,” Marty Kaplan, a professor at the University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communications, told Associated Press (AP).“'Indictment' is a sort of bloodless word. And words are pale compared to images. A mug shot is a genre. Its frame is, 'This is a deer caught in the headlights. This is the crook being nailed.' It’s the walk of shame moment,” Kaplan added.[caption id="attachment_13038042" align="alignnone" width="640"] Supporters of Donald Trump wait near the entrance of the Fulton County Jail on 24 August. Reuters[/caption]As Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews put it, “The effect will come down to the eye of the beholder - different people will think different things, depending on their view of Trump."

“On one thing, all can agree - the history of it all. America's picture book has a new entry.”

Speaking to AP, Mitchell Stevens, a professor emeritus at New York University, said, "There’s a power to the still image, which is inarguable. It kind of freezes a moment, and in this case it’s freezing an unhappy moment for Donald Trump".“And it’s not something he can click away. It’s not something he can simply brush off. That moment is going to live on. And it’s entirely possible that it will end up as the image that history preserves of this man.”ALSO READ: Donald Trump charged in Georgia: How this indictment is different from the othersWhy was there no Trump mug shot before?Trump’s indictment in the Georgia case was the fourth one in the last few months. However, while the Republican has been booked before, his mug shot was not taken in other cases.As per Time magazine, in previous cases, the court agreed Trump did not need to have a mug shot taken.His attorneys were earlier successful in saving the former president from this “iconic symbol of a run-in with the law”, noted the magazine.[caption id="attachment_13038062" align="alignnone" width="640"] Donald Trump surrendered at an Atlanta jail on 24 August. AP[/caption]But not this time, thus, making Trump not only the first president to be indicted and that too multiple times, but also the first to get his mug shot taken.Before Trump’s surrender, Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat had told local news station WSB-TV, “Unless somebody tells me differently, we are following our normal practices, and so it doesn’t matter your status, we’ll have a mug shot ready for you", reported Vox. Merch outEven before Trump’s mug shot was captured on Thursday in the Georgia case, his campaign had been selling T-shirts with a fake booking photo of him and with the words “not guilty”, reported AP.And now, the real deal is also out. As per New York Post, Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign site was offering merchandise, including T-shirts and coffee mugs, featuring the former US president’s frowning mug shot.The tagline in this mug shot-inspired gear reads “NEVER SURRENDER!” in all caps.Trump reacts after surrenderTrump returned to X, formerly known as Twitter, just hours after his surrender at the Atlanta jail.His first tweet since 8 January 2021 is a photo of his mug shot and the words, “Election interference. Never surrender!”Trump’s account was suspended after the storming of the US Capitol building on 6 January 2021. However, shortly after Elon Musk took over the company, Trump’s account was reinstated last November, noted AP.In an interview with Newsmax, the Republican called his experience at the jail “terrible” and “very sad”. “In my whole life I didn’t know anything about indictments and now I’ve been indicted like four times," he added.Will this affect Trump’s prospects?Despite his multiple indictments, Trump remains the frontrunner in the 2024 Republican primary, as per CNN.While Trump loyalists may not be much deterred from voting for him in the next US presidential elections, the Georgia case could have an impact on swing voters.A recent ABC News/Ipsos poll revealed that 64 percent of independent voters believe the criminal charges in this case are serious, reported Vox.“Of all Donald Trump’s legal issues, the Georgia indictment is the most politically dangerous,” John Cluverius, director of survey research at the UMass Lowell Center for Public Opinion, was quoted as saying by Vox. “It’s another reminder to Georgia voters, particularly those in the suburbs, that Trump tried to steal the 2020 election and subvert their fairly counted ballots.”As per CNN, “Regardless of where one stands, the former president of the United States turning himself in for charges stemming from the effort to reverse the democratic will of the American people should sink in as a historic moment in the United States.”With inputs from agencies