Take a good look at Trump's booking photo, Republicans. That's your GOP.

[aubiefifty 18,259]

 

yahoo.com

 

Take a good look at Trump's booking photo, Republicans. That's your GOP.

Rex Huppke, USA TODAYThu, August 24, 2023 at 7:58 PM CDT·5 min read1.2kLink Copied

8–10 minutes

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There it is, Republicans. We now have a booking photo of former president and current criminal defendant Donald Trump, and that face – scowling in the unflattering light of a county jail – is the face of your political party.

That image is your avatar. The man in that photo, arrested on charges of racketeering and election interference in Georgia, his fourth arrest this year, is the man you have let define you. The MAGA king. The almighty grievance peddler. The con man bilking your fellow voters with sleazy emails that would make a Nigerian-prince-themed scam artist blush.

 

In this handout provided by the Fulton County Sheriff's Office, former U.S. President Donald Trump poses for his booking photo at the Fulton County Jail on August 24, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia. Trump was booked on 13 charges related to an alleged plan to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Trump and 18 others facing felony charges have been ordered to turn themselves in to the Fulton County Jail by August 25.

 

He was missing at Wednesday night’s GOP presidential primary debate, too good, too high-up in the polls to grace the stage with his presence. So what Americans saw was a mirage. A make-believe look at what today’s Republican Party would have to offer if Trump wasn't around, and dominant.

It was a collection of prattling wannabes, people like Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pretending they have what it takes to out-Trump Trump alongside people like Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence pretending the party they’ve devoted their lives to still cares about anyone remotely serious or, for that matter, remotely conservative.

Who won the GOP debate? Ron DeSantis needed to be someone else at the Republican debate. Sadly, he was himself.

Donald Trump's booking photo will surely become a marketing tool for him

Trump won that debate by not being there, avoiding tough questions and letting his absence be the center of attention. He won the day after the debate by being arrested, again sucking up all the oxygen in the news cycle.

And he’ll all-but-certainly win the GOP presidential primary by hocking T-shirts with his booking photo on them and wailing about how cruel the world is to “totally innocent,” rich white men like him and how he is the one true protector of whatever hackneyed version of “real America” his followers think must be preserved. As of Thursday, he's favored by nearly 52% of Republican voters, according to Five Thirty Eight's polling average. His nearest competitor, DeSantis, is favored by just under 15% of voters.

 

Former President Donald Trump steps off his plane as he arrives at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, in Atlanta./Alex Brandon) ORG XMIT: GAAB304

 

The photo released by the Fulton County jail late Thursday was striking because never, in our nation’s history, has a former president had that particular type of photo taken. Just as never, in our nation’s history, has a former president, much less a leading candidate for a party’s presidential nomination, faced more than 90 state and federal charges ranging from conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government to violating the Espionage Act.

In a normal version of America that I hope exists in an alternate universe, Trump’s political career would be in a toilet, probably the one at Mar-a-Lago he kept boxes of classified government documents next to.

But thanks to a willfully duped Republican Party, one that gladly grasped the hand of a raging narcissist and tra-la-la’d along until the country was one Vice President Mike Pence decision away from Trump executing an attempt to overturn a free and fair election, Trump is thriving politically.

Among Republican voters, he seems to gain popularity with each indictment, and I imagine this new photo will give him another boost.

Trump leads primary pack: Republican voters want Donald Trump. And his vice president? How about more Trump?

The scope of Trump's awfulness is staggering, yet Republicans cling to him

Pause for a moment and consider all of this. Despite everything – losing the 2020 presidential election, being a drag on the 2022 midterms, constantly posting near-incoherent nonsense on his social-media platform – Trump remained untouchable among most Republican lawmakers and pundits. Now, after four grand juries in four different locales saw sufficient evidence to indict him, after he turned himself in to Georgia authorities and got his booking photo snapped the day after the party’s first big debate, he remains untouchable.

 

Republican presidential candidates (L-R), former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley are introduced during the first debate of the GOP primary season hosted by FOX News at the Fiserv Forum on Aug. 23, 2023, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The 8 presidential hopefuls squared off in the first Republican debate as former U.S. President Donald Trump, currently facing indictments in four locations, declined to participate in the event.

 

Republicans can trot alternative candidates out onto a Trump-less debate stage. They can say, in ways subtle or direct, that their party is not defined by the man in the Fulton County jail photo, the innocent-until-proven-guilty fellow in the federal-courtroom sketches.

But that is all a lie. Donald Trump is the face of the Republican Party. He, in all his loutish, conspiracy-theory-peddling glory, has infected every drop of blood in every vein in that particular political body.

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Trump always says he won, always says he's innocent. It will never stop

He said he won the election that he lost – and a majority of Republicans believe that to be true. He said he is innocent of every crime he’s charged with, and has effectively never done anything wrong, and a majority of Republicans believe that to be true. Even if he stumbles in the presidential primaries, he will declare victory or say it was rigged, as he did in 2016 when Sen. Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucuses, and a majority of Republicans will believe that to be true.

 

Aug 24, 2023; Atlanta, GA, USA; Trump supporters at Fulton County Jail intake center in Atlanta, GA. A grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia indicted former president Donald Trump and 18 other defendants with 41 charges related to tampering with the 2020 election. All defendants have been ordered to turn themselves in by August 25.. Mandatory Credit: Katie Goodale-USA TODAY

 

If he again loses the presidential election – whether he campaigns in person or from a prison cell – he will declare victory. And guess what will happen?

Will Trump go to prison? Four reasons Donald Trump might want to campaign from jail

If you're a Republican, you're part of the party of Trump. There's no separating yourself

You can say you’re a non-Trump Republican, and I certainly hope you will, as it’s at least a step in the right direction. But now and for the foreseeable future, there is no Republican Party separate from Trump.

The Fulton County jail photo that dropped Thursday and set the internet ablaze? That’s the face of the GOP. If you call yourself a Republican, you should spend a good few minutes staring at it. Because he is you.

And for that, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk

You can read diverse opinions from our Board of Contributors and other writers on the Opinion front page, on Twitter @usatodayopinion and in our daily Opinion newsletter. To respond to a column, submit a comment to letters@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Don't downplay Trump's arrest, photo. GOP must face who they are

[autigeremt 7,216]

The only difference in Trumps photo and Bidens? Trump had to show up and turn himself in first. 

[Didba 5,510]

3 hours ago, autigeremt said:

The only difference in Trumps photo and Bidens? Trump had to show up and turn himself in first. 

Sick burn, bro.

[Mikey 16,781]

9 hours ago, autigeremt said:

The only difference in Trumps photo and Bidens? Trump had to show up and turn himself in first. 

The big difference is that when Biden gets arrested I doubt that Republicans will be making a big deal out of his personal photos and so forth. Apparently the Dems are still infested with TDD. After all this time, I must conclude that TDD is a chronic, life-long affliction.

[homersapien 12,245]

That didn't take long:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/08/25/trump-mugshot-shirts-georgia/

Trump is selling his mug shot on shirts, koozies and bumper stickers

The merchandise, which includes T-shirts, mugs, koozies and bumper stickers of the former president’s mug shot, was for sale about 90 minutes after he was released from an Atlanta jail on Thursday. The merchandise, which includes $34 shirts, is accompanied by the words “NEVER SURRENDER!” Trump surrendered at the jail Thursday, was booked and got released on a $200,000 bond in a move his legal team negotiated this week.

The Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee is also selling his mug shot, saying it would give out a T-shirt in exchange for a $47 donation. The Trump campaign claimed in a fundraising email that his mug shot was an attempt “to make him look like a criminal in front of the entire world.”

“Please make a contribution of $47 to prove that YOU will also NEVER SURRENDER our mission — and we’ll send you a FREE T-shirt with President Trump’s OFFICIAL MUGSHOT PRINTED ON IT,” the campaign’s email reads.......

 

 

[aubaseball 2,829]

True entrepreneur.  Man knows how to manipulate small minds.  Well, if he is the nominee, that’s a tshirt that will make millions.   

[homersapien 12,245]

37 minutes ago, aubaseball said:

True entrepreneur.  Man knows how to manipulate small minds.  Well, if he is the nominee, that’s a tshirt that will make millions.   

100% for his legal defense fund.

[Mikey 16,781]

After every one of these BS charges hits the headlines, Trump gets more supporters and more money. Are the Democrats determined to put him back in office? If they had just shut up and not mentioned Trump he'd be a distant memory by now. Instead, the Democrats are turning him in to a folk hero because he's being attacked by the establishment. He gains money and sympathy every time. If he ends up being our next president, he should send a thank you card to the DNC because they will be the ones responsible for electing him.

[icanthearyou 4,468]

20 hours ago, aubaseball said:

Man knows how to manipulate small minds.

When self realization occurs,,, learning can begin.

[autigeremt 7,216]

On 8/25/2023 at 1:36 AM, Didba said:

Sick burn, bro.

But so, so true. Lol 😂 

[autigeremt 7,216]

5 hours ago, icanthearyou said:

When self realization occurs,,, learning can begin.

Spare us oh great self absorbed one. 

[LPTiger 5,475]

Can someone post a pic of Biden in Lake Tahoe with the collar on his polo flipped up as well as the collar on his jacket flipped up?   I've seen pics on the same day with it flipped up and pics with it worn normally.   So either he saw himself with it worn normally and thought it would be a cool look to flip it up (which is pretty funny), or he had it flipped up and some staffer said "Mr. President the 90's have been over for two decades now." 

[TexasTiger 14,310]

7 hours ago, Mikey said:

After every one of these BS charges hits the headlines, Trump gets more supporters and more money. Are the Democrats determined to put him back in office? If they had just shut up and not mentioned Trump he'd be a distant memory by now. Instead, the Democrats are turning him in to a folk hero because he's being attacked by the establishment. He gains money and sympathy every time. If he ends up being our next president, he should send a thank you card to the DNC because they will be the ones responsible for electing him.

The DNC indicts?

[AUDub 11,949]

1 hour ago, TexasTiger said:

The DNC indicts?

You know, that nefarious cabal of career Republicans in the DOJ. 

[TexasTiger 14,310]

1 minute ago, AUDub said:

You know, that nefarious cabal of career Republicans in the DOJ. 

Covert DNC plants.

[TexasTiger 14,310]

[AUDub 11,949]

John Eastman looks like he’s staring at William Shatner through the Enterprise’s communications screen

[Mikey 16,781]

15 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

The DNC indicts?

No, they tell their pets at the FBI & DOJ what to do and they indite. Right now they are messing me up. I do not want Trump to be the next president but the Democrats are hell-bent to put him back in office.