Donald Trump has been gleefully raising money on his mug shot stemming from his arrest in Georgia on election conspiracy charges, but history will not remember that. Instead, according to one professor, future generations will be more likely to see Trump as a mere criminal.
Jonathan Finn, a professor of communication studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, said in an opinion piece that Trump’s mug shot’s "ultimate importance is yet to be realized."
"It will likely be at least a decade or two before Trump’s mug shot’s significance truly registers with people. For now, it is a form of entertainment – a salacious piece of visual culture that Trump’s supporters and opponents have been waiting for and are now putting to use," Finn wrote. "But as a historical artifact, the Trump mug shot will be truly unique – it will represent the first time a former president had a public, photographic record of criminal charges."
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Despite the former president's attempt to turn the mug shot into a good thing, Finn says the mug shot "will serve as a reminder of a particularly troubling time in American history."
Even though people who have mug shots taken aren't necessarily guilty, that doesn't change the associations others will make, the article states.
"Given its use over more than 150 years, the mug shot has an established association with criminality or, at the very least, suspicion of criminality. While a mug shot does not mean the person pictured has committed a crime, it does mean that police had reason to bring a person into custody and formally book them," Finn says in the piece.
Of the legacy of Trump's mug shot, Finn said:
"I think that Trump’s mug shot is unlikely to sway the hardened views of his most ardent proponents and detractors. There has been a nearly endless stream of information across all forms of media about the former president for nearly a decade. A mug shot won’t make Trump’s supporters think he’s a criminal, but it might encourage future generations to come to that conclusion."
