Election 2024: Image World (2)

The Missing Photograph

At long last, someone has indicted and arrested seditious traitor and crime-family boss Donald J. Trump, the twice-impeached one-term ex-president and Putin puppet. Props to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg for shrugging off the haters while patiently putting together what seems like an iron-clad case accusing Trump “of the crimes of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.” More specifically, according to the prosecutor,

The defendant, Donald J. Trump, falsified New York business records in order to conceal an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 presidential election and other violations of election laws.

Much maligned on the left until recently for not indicting Trump sooner, and now on the right for indicting him at all, Bragg soldiered on and will go down in history as the first official anywhere, at any level of government, to file criminal charges against Mango Mussolini. He thus becomes the first to ever arraign a current or former U.S. president on charges that could result in imprisonment.

The only disappointment on this otherwise momentous and joyous occasion? Bragg decided, presumably for strategic reasons, to forego not just public documentation of the arrest and processing but also the production and distribution of the standard mug shot of the accused.

Safe to say that this image, presumably made and long anticipated by millions around the world, thereby immediately became an imaginary photograph, vividly present in the minds of everyone following the belated unraveling of Trump’s lifelong crime spree.

Donald Trump, fake mug shot, screenshot 2023

Perhaps the DA calculated that the indictment and arrest earned him enough bragging rights (sorry, couldn’t resist) that he could leave subjecting Trump to the indignity of a mug shot to Fani Willis or Jack Smith. Perhaps he thought that showing Trump this courtesy would serve to undermine the claim that he and his office were out to get Trump that — while also denying the defendant an image on which to fundraise and the wingnut right a visual guaranteed to make MAGA blood boil. Perhaps he even concluded that the world already had plenty of fake Trump mug shots in wide circulation, which would suffice.

Understandable, then. But that decision has the inevitable side effect of demonstrating, once again, that we have a two-tiered justice system in this country, and even in New York, with prominent, rich, white, white-collar criminals spared the indignities — public arrest, handcuffing, perp walk, fingerprinting, mug shot — to which the average citizen, and especially the average citizen of color, gets subjected as a matter of course.

Donald Trump campaign, fake mug shot, screenshot 2023

Will any of Trump’s forthcoming indictments result in a mugshot? We’ll see. While waiting, however, we’ll have no shortage of related visuals: Trump going in and out of courthouses, in and out of courtrooms. Trump sitting stone-faced at the defense table in courtroom after courtroom. Trump whining at one press conference after another about how unfairly he gets treated. Not a good look for the once and wannabe-future POTUS, whose supporters will have an increasingly hard time sustaining their devotion to him as the evidence of his criming spills over.

And, given his insatiable ego, not a good look for the former playboy: The young women Trump continues to lust after want a Sonny Angel, not Orange Julius, whinging.

The judge in this case set a tentative trial date for March 25, 2024.

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Blustery Wind(bag)

Meanwhile, the public has received two other recent and ongoing bursts of Trump imagery.

First we’ve had excerpts from videos of his disastrous deposition in the lawsuit filed against him by E. Jean Carroll, contrasted with stills and videos of him golfing in Scotland while avoiding testifying in person in his own defense. The jury found him guilty of sexual abuse and defamation, announcing that verdict on May 9, hitting him with $5 million in damages.

Donald Trump, E. Jean Carroll lawsuit, deposition video 10-19-22, screenshot

Second, and concurrently, we’ve had clips of Trump blustering his way through his disastrous CNN “town hall,” which turned out to be a standard Trump mini-rally, complete with invitation-only, exclusively pro-Trump, pro-MAGA audience jeering and cheering. Moderated by CNN This Morning co-anchor Kaitlan Collins, this has proved itself both a ratings and PR disaster for CNN.

Despite Anderson Cooper’s despicable accusation that refusal to immerse myself in Trump’s firehose stream of reeking bullshit branded me as someone isolated in a liberal-left “silo,” I found the complete video of this bizarre event unwatchable — as, apparently, did most Americans of all political persuasions. Instead, I settled for a selection of shorter but no less odious video clips from CNN chief Chris Licht’s Trump lovefest, which — entirely predictably —  showed Orange Julius characteristically lying, whining, bragging, and bullying as his cult followers egged him on. A total embarrassment for all concerned.

Donald Trump, CNN Town Hall, 5-11-23, screenshot

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She Is the Storm

Involving a six-figure hush-money payment to a porn star meant to keep Trump’s extramarital affair with her from making headlines during the 2016 campaign, this has become known as “the Stormy Daniels case.” I’ll use that short form henceforth to distinguish it from all the other Trump cases currently in litigation. For a complete list of those, regularly updated, I recommend Just Security’s Litigation Tracker: Pending Criminal and Civil Cases Against Donald Trump. It’s a crowded field; you can’t tell the players without a scorecard.

(Note: This is a separate case from Daniels’ unsuccessful Los Angeles defamation suit that, in April, resulted in the court ordering her to pay Trump’s legal fees.)

Stormy Daniels, Piers Morgan interview, TalkTV, 4-7-23, screenshot

This means that images of the buxom Ms. Daniels will appear frequently and prominently in the mass media and on the internet for the foreseeable future. Not just between now and December 4, the trial date set by the judge, but thereafter as the trial plays out. That means well into 2024, with the trial drawing headlines as the next presidential campaign really gets rolling. Looking forward to the Republicans trying to tiptoe around that as they navigate the primaries.

Trump’s derisive nickname for Daniels — “Horseface” — failed to stick, perhaps because it has no visual connection to her actual appearance. On the other hand, her pithy description of The Donald’s equipment — from which I derive the promising rock-group name Mushroom Dick and the Yeti Pubes — has staying power, though it evokes an image that, regrettably, I can’t unsee. (Much like the descriptions by Harvey Weinstein’s victims of his distinctively mangled nether regions.)

Which reminds me: I’m not invested in the stock market at present, but if I wanted to dabble I’d certainly keep my eye on ConAgra Brands (NYSE:CAG), parent company of Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn. I use a generic brand myself; I don’t have a sufficiently sophisticated palate to tell the difference. But, going forward from here, watching Trump trying to wriggle his way out of all the active and pending charges in the many different venues promises to become a major spectator sport, so popcorn consumption can only go up.

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I Tawt I Taw a Pudding Finger

Once we recognize Donald Trump as a sociopath, we can acknowledge that, as such, he ranks among the gifted. Among his deranged skills, an ability to capitalize on his prey’s weaknesses often stands him in good stead. Witness the Trump campaign’s brilliant and brutal takedown of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, based on the rumor that Rhonda enjoys eating pudding with his fingers. Their “Pudding Fingers” ad creates an image at once repellent and indelible.

Trump-MAGA, DeSantis Pudding Fingers ad 2023, screenshot

A portent of things to come. They’re just getting started.

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A prediction: This campaign season will also make history as the first in which imagery generated by artificial intelligence (AI) will feature prominently. I’m not sure anyone can claim readiness for that eventuality — certainly not me. At the moment I’m trying to get my head around AI in its potential relationship to my own work, my practice, and my field. I expect to start writing about those issues later this year. But the run-up to the 2024 election will serve as a test of how this technology affects our social and political life in real time. So I anticipate (with some trepidation) the challenge of addressing that in this space.