After Donald Trump turned himself in to authorities in Georgia on Thursday, Democrats were ecstatic over the release of his arrest photo, but it quickly became clear that the image seriously backfired on liberals.
Trump immediately turned the release of his mug shot into a huge windfall in campaign donations.
The ex-president parlayed the photo into $7.1 million in campaign donations in the few days since he was booked on charges that he tried to interfere in Georgia’s elections in 2020, according to the liberal politics website Politico.
In fact, Trump reportedly raised an incredible $4.18 million in just the first 24 hours after the photo was released. It was the highest he’s raised in any 24-hour period of his campaign, Politico reported.
Trump’s campaign has also raked in millions in merchandise sales, including T-shirts, coffee mugs and other items festooned with the mug shot.
The former president himself kicked off the fundraising effort with a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, urging supporters to go to his campaign website.
https://t.co/MlIKklPSJT pic.twitter.com/Mcbf2xozsY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2023
An important point needs to be made about his fundraising: Trump is the choice of regular Americans, if one can make that extrapolation from his donors.
Do you like Trump’s mug shot?
Yes: 93% (1655 Votes)
No: 7% (118 Votes)
While many politicians reap much of their campaign cash from the super-rich, deep-pocketed donors, much of Trump’s campaign donations come from what are called “small donors,” or those who are giving $100 or less at a time, NBC News reported.
NBC added that Trump’s data shows that he has received small donations from 400,000 supporters since June. And that “includes more than 115,000 new, online donors who joined the fold the week surrounding the New York indictment, plus another 29,000 who gave for the first time in the 2024 campaign after his federal indictment in Miami,” NBC added.
In comparison, former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott only had about 40,000 small donors each. And former Vice President Mike Pence had fewer than 3,000.
Certainly, all the merchandise is going to small donors and Americans who are excited to show their support of Trump with a T-shirt or coffee mug.
Regardless, it is clear that Donald Trump has not lost a single step in fundraising since the indictments and his booking in a Georgia jail. Nor has he lost any appreciable support for his campaign for president.
Granted, Trump is not the only one gaining new supporters and donations.
In the aftermath of the first GOP debate, several of the eight candidates who appeared on stage to do battle over the issues also gained some support.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, for instance, pulled in $450,000 in the first 24 hours after his debate appearance.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did even better. His campaign reported bringing in more than $1 million in the day after the debate.
Still, Trump chose his date to turn himself in quite well. By choosing the day after the GOP debate, he turned the news cycle right back to himself and pushed debate news right off the front pages.
So, while Trump still appears to be using up all the oxygen in the room as far as GOP presidential politics is concerned, the American people seem to be starting to pay more attention to 2024 race now that the primaries are only just about five months away.
