It’s been a mostly lousy day. And way to effing much of it was consumed with “OMFG Trump’s going to have a mugshot taken!” blather on the news. And then the damned thing was released. Jesus f**king Christ! Pundits including many I admire were consumed with talking about this being THE most iconic photo ever taken, one that will dominate history hundreds of years from now. Really folks.
Get a f**king grip.
Come back from not just the moon but somewhere between here and the fourth dimension to mother Earth. Yes, it’s a significant and sad piece of history now that we have a mugshot of a former President. For the first time ever. But hell, this is his FOURTH indictment and his getting partially treated like any other person being arrested and book is news but not nearly as epic as it’s being made out to be.
Oh, I say partially because for all the talk about Trump being treated like any other person when being booked a) They clearly had the deck “cleared” while he was on his way from the airport and he moved through the process like lightening – no waiting for his turn like anyone else and b) unlike their normal process of getting stats like height and weight by putting Trump on a scale (think of trips to the doc for a physical where you step on the scale and it has a thing that allows them to measure your height in addition to taking your weight) Trump was allowed to “self report” those stats. To “expedite the process.” Trump’s used to putting his fingers on the glass plate for that part so he was in and out in not much more time than the flash from taking that stupid mugshot lasted.
But again, listening to all the talking heads this was EPIC! HUGE! (or rather YUGE!) The most important moment that has been or ever will be in American History? The vote in Independence Hall to declare independence from England knowing it meant war with the most powerful country on the planet? Pfft. Lincoln at Gettysburg? Nah. No biggie. Images from WWII and the signing of the peace on the Missouri in Tokyo Bay? Ho hum. Not to mention Bill Anders being witness to the very first “earth rise” in human consciousness and getting a picture of our beautiful blue and white ball off in the distance. Or Neal Armstrong taking the very first step by a human on to another celestial body. (I’ll never forgive my older sister for that yard sale where Life Magazine covers of those things were among things of my she sold) No biggie. Not compared to TRUMP GOT HIS MUGSHOT TAKEN!
Yes, Trump getting partially treated like the common criminal he is is news. And so is his mugshot. Frankly I knew I’d be disappointed having seen those of others taken at that same jail. I wanted to see the classic mugshot – standing there “old-school” in front of a height chart holding the sign with the booking number. Although even that wouldn’t merit the hoopla we’ve see that kind of mugshot would have been kinda cool. And as a bonus I don’t think it would have allowed Trump to fundraise the way he’s already started to do. Too many MAGAs out there have either been featured in one of those old-school mugshots or have a family member or friend who has. NOT something Trump would want them to maybe think about and start making comparisons. Anyway, you’d think from how breathless the news coverage was cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer’s had all both been cured, AND a simple & no cost way of reversing climate change had been discovered.
All today.
Perspective people. Especially news folks. Since Lincoln Project folks check out our little site please guys, if you’re going to do a “mugshot” thing it SHOULD be about how the news media lost their f**king minds over a stupid mugshot instead of simply reporting Trump finally got a little typical treatment while being booked.
There will I predict be a defining picture of Trump someday. It will be the look on his face standing there at the defense table when the verdict GUILTY is spoken aloud. Hopefully there will be video and audio to hear him gasp and rip one loud “shart” into his Depends. Now THAT would merit some talking head talk. But this? Please. Just STFU and concentrate on the important stuff like schedules for motions, discovery and trial dates. Because for all the hype this mugshot crap doesn’t amount to jack.
Boom! Boom! Point taken, sir. Your following words are priceless and so impact fully visual “… Hopefully there will be video and audio to hear him gasp and rip one loud “shart” into his Depends. Now THAT would merit some talking head talk…”
But first they have to pull their own heads out of their own a$$es and start trying to be journalists again.
He’s having his 15 minutes of fame.
Before long no-one will remember what he looked like.
Does anyone remember what Hoover looked like, or LBJ, or Harrison?
I’m just glad your photo was NOT a photo of the sh*t-gibbon. I’ve had enough of looking at that stupid visage of his. He thinks he looks tough but merely pulls off an idiotic pose. What an embarrassment for our country.
The eyes. Look at his eyes. Reddish/bloodshot. Tells me he’s not doing well handling his increasing legal peril.
Thanks Denis for trying to steer the Titanic away from the impending iceberg. A year ago or so I was watching a show about the Voyager, which left our solar system. It was launched in the 70s. It showed a series of photographs starting with one similar to the photo above but closer. Then it showed how we became smaller as it moved away. It eventually was hard to see us and then we disappeared completely. Some believe ‘God’ is a mystery. That one will remain. The bigger mystery to me is the sheer arrogance of the human race stuck on this rock, with no ability to go anywhere that’s feasible, destroying the habitat we need to continue, and wasting untold resources on killing each other. Figuring out the other mysteries pales in comparison to the one that is destroying us. I just read 4 million children IN PAKISTAN ALONE don’t have clean drinking water. Yet we keep patting ourselves on the back for technological advances. Won’t be long before we’ll be burning up, turning into Venus, so a few evil a$$holes can have yachts bigger than a football field and 15 homes they don’t need. Oh, and that happens because the 95% of us struggling to live keep giving them the power to kill us all once and for all time. The pundits love to talk about how someone will be seen in the future historical record. What future? What record? Who will be here, other than an alien archeologist perplexed over our mass suicide?
That epic photo, the “tiny blue dot” stands out in my mind. We live on a tiny ball in the vast universe, in a small insignificant solar system in the outer part of a small, insignificant galaxy nowhere near the center of our universe. Yet way too many people think we are at the very center of it all, THE most important, biggest thing in the entire cosmos. Overall the human race simply doesn’t have the humility to get that.
Do they use this mugshot for his presidential portrait, or wait until he is in orange and being admitted to his cell block?
denis…I’m afraid you’re correct. As a Religion major and anthropology minor at UNC-CH in the early seventies, I considered going to Duke or Harvard, but declined. I decided I didn’t want to spend my life arguing with undergraduates or congregations. Everyone, who is certain they not only have ‘God’ on their side, but also are certain what happens after death, is full of beans. It’s hard to not laugh in their face when they claim expertise when THEY DONT EVEN KNOW WHERE THEY ARE.
“Man, as an individual is an insoluble puzzle. In the aggregate, he is a mathematical certainty.”
Sherlock Holmes
Thank you for the reality check. There ARE far more important events and moments in our history, and there will be more. But my first impression on seeing this picture was how staged it looked. The angle of his head hides all that business going on under his chin, the flab and whatever. His expression (well-practiced, I’m sure) is of anger and menace. It says ‘I’m coming for all of you’. An ugly picture of an ugly man, an ugly human being. And all the frothing of the talking heads on MSNBC last night got so tiresome! Come on people! You’re doing just what he wants, focusing on him, talking endlessly about him. I’m sick of this guy. I was thinking evil thoughts as I watched his plane taking off last night, after having recently watched that horrifying plunge of Prigozhin’s plane. If only he’d been the only one on board . . . . .
What makes a phot iconic is being unique.and inpossible to duplicate. T=”Eartheise” is indeed iconic There has been no other opportunity to catch an image like that.
I can’t predict the future, but my best hope for humanity would be for, as hundreds of years pass, “Earthrise” to become less iconic because space travel has become a reality not limited to zillionires, and for this mugshot to be increedibly iconic because no other President has ever done anything so awful as to require one be taken of him/her/them. I’m not predicting for that. But I am praying for it.
He committed crimes, he got arrested, he got fingerprinted and a mugshot taken. That’s what happens. And that thing about never heard of a mugshot. Who’s he trying to kid. He grew up with Roy Cohn and probably some of the toughest mobs in New York. Mugshot has been around as long as I can remember and I know he’s heard it before. He’s scared to death of Fulton Country. First he can’t weasel out of that because it’s a state offense. Second he knows they have enough to convict his moron ass. And third Fanni Willis is getting one of those revolving doors put in to make it easier for the other 18 defendants to go in and cut a deal with her. These are all white collar lawyer types and they want no part of Georgia’s penal system so I can pretty well guarantee they are going to make a orchestra of canaries that leaves Donnie holding the bag.