How Donald Trump Has Turned His Viral Mugshot Into A Hefty Payday

Former President and businessman Donald J. Trump is not one to pass up a payday — nor is he one to avoid controversy. Entrenched in dozens of legal battles over his lifetime, Trump has narrowly avoided being photographed for a mugshot on several occasions. However, in August 2023, a mugshot moment finally caught up with the divisive politician after he was taken into custody over charges of election subversion. Suddenly, he was the first president in American history to be subjected to a police booking 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 the Associated Press.

Without missing a beat, Trump and his team capitalized on the moment as a fundraising opportunity. Within days after his mugshot was taken and went viral, Trump raised millions of dollars. In the first 24 hours, he raised $4.18 million and set a fundraising record for himself. In 48 hours, that number had skyrocketed to over $7 million. They sold t-shirts, bumper stickers, and even posters bearing the former president's viral moment. Many of them included the line "NEVER SURRENDER." That hunger for making that mugshot a money maker hasn't slowed for Trump either as he seeks new ways to monetize it.

In a new venture to profit from his notorious mugshot, former President Donald J. Trump is marketing the image as an NFT trading card.As part of his "Mugshot Edition" cards, Trump is also throwing in pieces of the suit he wore in the photo and dinner with him at Mar-a-Lago. He released 100,000 of the cards on December 12, 2023, for $99 each, with 2,024 (a nod to the upcoming election) physical copies. These physical cards with varying rarity will be sent to anyone who buys 47 cards or more at one time (another nod to the forthcoming potential 47th president of the United States). 

Those hoping to score a piece of his suit and dinner with the former president can expect to spend at least $4600 – since they have to buy nearly 50 NFTs. As to the value of the suit/NFT combo, the site where you can buy the NFTs describes the item as an important piece of history. The description of the image and suit reads, in part, "This is a moment in history — it's the first ever mugshot of a United States President. In the photo, Trump has a furrowed brow with a determined gaze which says he'll never surrender. This card is not just a keepsake; it's a piece of history and a testament to resilience. It stands as a symbol of President Trump's unwavering commitment and his enduring dedication to the American Dream."

Former President Donald J. Trump's move to capitalize on his viral mugshot through NFTs wasn't his initial venture into the NFT market. He released his first batch of digital trading cards in December 2022 with a series depicting him as various kinds of superheroes. The cards featured unusual images of the former president, appearing as if copy-pasted into various outfits. In them, he is depicted as a firefighter, red carpet celeb, superhero, and more. Also sold at $99 a piece, this first round of NFTs had a similar offer as his latest mugshot rendition. 

Anyone who purchased 45 of the cards ($4455 worth) was invited to dinner with Trump. There were also sweepstakes offerings for folks who purchased fewer cards. Some of those prizes included a golf game with Trump or autographed memorabilia. However, as RollingStone points out, he is known for making such promises for sweepstakes but never following through. 

After his mugshot release, the sale of Trump's NFT trading cards skyrocketed. Following both the mug shot and an exclusive interview with Tucker Carlson in August 2023, sales for Trump's trading cards rose over 500%. As of August 2023, Trump held just shy of $3 million in cryptocurrency in his digital wallet and received $4.87 million in licensing fees from the trading cards.