LIBS, STOP ACTING SO OWNABLE

This MSNBC opinion piece by Jen Psaki was the last straw for me:

Trump’s mug shot will backfire in 2024

... This Georgia indictment is different for a whole host of reasons. Donald Trump has 18 co-defendants, he can’t pardon himself, the trial will likely be televised, and now, for the first time, we have a mug shot.

Trump and his allies are already leaning in to it. We should expect T-shirts, posters, mugs galore.

He thinks this is a political winner for him. But as New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu told me in an interview that airs Sunday, “independents hate it.”

The fact remains that Trump is going to need to expand his voting base to win a general election.... it’s very unlikely independents and moderates in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Phoenix or Detroit are going to become more likely to vote for Trump because he has was booked in the Fulton County Jail....

This photo will be shared on every text thread in America. Sometimes, images are more persuasive than anything. And it is hard to imagine that this image, of Trump scowling into the police camera, will make him more appealing to anyone who is not already a hardcore supporter.

Psaki might be right about all of this -- I continue to worry that many middle-of-the-road voters are tuning out the Trump legal news and in 2024 will simply choose the candidate who prevailed over lower gas prices, but I agree that one or more convictions could make these voters take Trump's unfitness to be president seriously. Joe Biden might beat Trump handily after juries have called Trump a felon. (The polls aren't hinting at that yet, however -- the most recent poll I've seen, from Reuters, has Trump up 38%-32% after the latest indictment, with 30% saying they're undecided, unlikely to vote, or likely to vote third party.)

But even if Trump's electoral downfall is imminent, why are liberals fixated on the mugshot?

The mugshot has become a media obsession. It was the subject of multiple think pieces: AP's Jonathan Cooper: "One Image, One Face, One American Moment: The Donald Trump Mug Shot." Amanda Hoover of Wired: "In a World of Fakes, Trump’s Real Mug Shot Matters."

The Atlantic's Mark Leibovich lamented that "Trump’s Mug Shot Gives His Haters Nothing." ("Trump’s photo offers a rough visage, formidable and extremely serious—which is what I assume he was going for. He made an effort here. It paid off. He gave his haters nothing in the ballpark of vulnerability.")

Entertainers reacted to it (The Independent: "‘Slouchy and Hateful’: John Cusack, Rosie O’Donnell and Kathy Griffin React to Trump Mugshot"). New York magazine published a piece by its senior art critic titled "The Art of the Mug Shot." The New York Times turned to its chief fashion critic ("A Trump Mug Shot for History: The Former President’s Booking Photo Is Unprecedented. And That’s Just the Beginning of Its Significance").

Who cares? We're acting as if the mugshot will be the main thing we remember about Trump's legal journey when he has four trials scheduled. Some people undoubtedly thought O.J. Simpson's mugshot would matter, but that was before "If the glove doesn't fit, you must acquit," and then the verdict. And even if prosecutors can't bring any of Trump's cases to trial before November 2024, he has more than a year of presidential campaigning to go. He's going to say and do many things that will matter more to us in the future than this damn photo.

It was inevitable that Trump and other right-wingers would turn the photo into a badge of honor (and into merchandise) -- but we made it so much easier for them by obsessing over it. All they care about is owning the libs, and we made it abundantly clear to them that they'd really own us if they turned the mugshot into a holy object.

One prominent person handled this correctly. He didn't treat the release of the mugshot as a profound and solemn moment in American history. He was appropriately flippant:

President Joe Biden on Friday weighed in on former President Donald Trump's mug shot.

Biden, who is vacationing in Lake Tahoe, chuckled when asked by reporters whether he'd seen the image yet.

"I did see it on television," Biden responded.

When asked what he thought, Biden replied, "Handsome guy. Wonderful guy."

Just that, then on to the next subject. Perfect.