The Atlanta jail comeback
It’s been an extraordinary week in US politics. The leading candidate for the Republican presidential nominee – none other than former President Donald J. Trump – handed himself to the authorities in Atlanta, Georgia. He was charged with election interference and released after paying the $200,000 bail fee but not before making some history in true Trumpian style.
The already-infamous mug shot, the first of any former president, has been plastered all over the internet and seems to be all anyone can talk about. Naturally, memes abound. My particular favourite is a mock album cover in the style of Jonny Cash’s At Folsom Prison. In his personal information, he was recorded as having “blonde or strawberry blonde hair,” being 6 foot 3 inches and weighing 215 lbs. In 2020 the White House recorded his weight at 244 lbs. All that walking around golf courses must be paying off.
His motley crew of co-conspirators, including his former lawyer Rudy Guiliani, were also pictured in the unflattering lighting of a room in the notorious Fulton County jail. Trump supporters flocked to the nearby streets. One woman held up a placard reading: “Trump is guilty of being awesome”.
Never one to miss a PR opportunity, Trump returned to Twitter (X) for the first time since he was banned two years ago following the January 6 riots at the Capitol. He posted the mug shot with the caption: “ELECTION INTERFERENCE” followed by “NEVER SURRENDER!”
Simultaneously, the former president is banging on about his chaotic interview with ex-Fox News broadcaster Tucker Carlson. Trump is touting it as the most-watched interview of all time – self-effacing as ever. According to X’s misleading metrics, it looks as though the interview has 252 million views. In reality, that’s just how many people have seen the tweet, not watched the interview.
In the 45-minute interview, Carlson predictably fanned the conspiratorial fire. He asked twice about whether America was headed for a civil war, to which the 77-year-old replied: “There’s a level of passion I’ve never seen, there’s a level of hatred I’ve never seen. And that’s probably a bad combination.” Carlson asked if Trump believed that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide – twice! – and repeatedly broached the subject of whether Trump thought there was a conspiracy to murder him rather than allow him to become president again.
Carlson also asked why the leading Republican nominee for the presidential election wasn’t at the televised Republican candidate debate.
Trump said: “I’m leading by 50 and 60 points, and you know some of [the other candidates] are at one and zero and two, and I’m saying, do I sit there for an hour or two hours whatever it’s going to be and get harassed by people that shouldn’t even be running for president, should I be doing that, and a network that isn’t particularly friendly to me…”
So it’s beneath him. But his lead in the polls is as solid as ever, and that means he can be as condescending to the Republican party and his fellow candidates as he likes. No changes there.
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