Why Does Donald Trump Have A Mugshot And Why Are People Making Memes Of His Scowl?

The 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump, has famously been indicted multiple times, with his most infamous being due to the Capitol Insurrection. But this Georgia indictment is unique in one significant way — it's gifted the internet with an official mugshot of the former President.

But why is this indictment any different from the previous ones, and why is he scowling in his mugshot? Here's what you need to know about the already massively infamous image, as well as how it's being used for memes.

Why Was Trump's Indictment In Georgia Different From The Rest?

Previous indictments on the former President, including the insurrection charges, hush money payment and classified documents mishandling were all on the federal level, which carries its own special rules and policies for handling the accused (such as not publicly releasing a mugshot photo).

This Georgia indictment, however, which revolves around racketeering (or RICO) charges in the state of Georgia in connection with him allegedly trying to overturn President Joe Biden's win in the state, follows the same basic procedure that any regular criminal has to follow.

This means that for the 13 charges Trump has on him in Georgia, a traditional appearance, booking and bailing process had to occur, including a publicly released mugshot.

Because of this, anticipation for the public release of the mugshot, speculation and betting began to take place online on various parts of the upcoming Trump mugshot — including people asking for the over/under on his height and weight, which have always been in question during his fame.

When Was Trump's Mugshot Actually Released?

Just hours ago on August 24th around 8 p.m. EST, the Fulton County Sheriff's Office snapped Donald Trump's official mugshot after he briefly appeared at the jail to be booked. According to the press, the entire process took a mere 22 minutes. It is notably the first mugshot of a United States President ever taken.

The mugshot then appeared to be leaked online roughly 30 minutes prior to news outlets confirming its authenticity. An early post by X user @ettingermentum, which references the "Chat is this real?" meme, includes the un-watermarked image taken at the jailhouse.

Why Is He Scowling?

While many are sure that the mugshot will negatively impact his Trump 2024 political campaign, the former President's supporters are talking about the opposite taking place.

Due to the previous three indictments and the prior impeachment failing to stop Trump from gaining supporters, a belief began to spread among some that Trump can use this mugshot as a political tool if he manages to beat the allegations once again.

This is speculated to be the reason why he's giving a tough scowl in the mugshot to reinforce his rhetoric of "drain the swamp" and the "us vs. them" message he runs on, though the exact explanation is still unknown.

How Are People Using Trump's Mugshot As A Meme?

While it's only been out for a couple of hours, Donald Trump's mugshot has already become a massive source of memetic content across the internet. Even before its release, people were posting preliminary memes expressing their anticipation for the historic image.

Refreshing that newsfeed #TrumpMugshot pic.twitter.com/W8qGgx5gZ1

— Gumbo Roux ₳ (@WhoDatTide44) August 24, 2023

Since it dropped, social media has been running rampant with the picture. Ranging from memes using it alongside simple captions to doctored images giving Trump the sus eyebrow, it's safe to say that the range of memes using the mugshot will be almost endless in the coming days — and we'll be cataloging all of them in our entry.

How Did Trump Himself Respond To The Image?

Only about an hour after his plane departed Atlanta, Donald Trump tweeted for the first time since January 2021, posting his own mugshot and a link to his website, which quickly racked up over 45,000 retweets and 133,000 likes in minutes.

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For the full history of Donald Trump's mugshot, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for even more information.