Meet 400+ Suppliers. Find New Products. Source Inventory. All at ASI Show Chicago, July 23-25.   Register Now.

News

Trump Reportedly Raising Millions for Presidential Campaign With ‘Mugshot Merch’

The former president, who is running to be the Republican candidate in the 2024 election, has generated the windfall through sales of promo products that feature his recent booking photo.

First there were the “MAGA” hats.

Now, there’s the mugshot.

Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign is selling T-shirts, can coolers, mugs, bumper stickers and other products that feature the official mugshot of the United States’ 45th president. The photo was taken when Trump was booked last week at Fulton County Jail in Georgia.

Trump mug shot t-shirt

The Trump campaign has been driving fundraising efforts in recent days with promotional products, like this T-shirt, that feature the former president’s mugshot.

Trump has been indicted on criminal charges stemming from an alleged attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Seemingly not long after the ink had dried from the fingerprinting, the Trump campaign had a collection of branded merchandise for sale, printed with the billionaire businessman’s furrowed-brow mugshot and the words “NEVER SURRENDER!”

Items range in price from $12 to $34. The merch was reportedly generating a windfall of funds to support Trump’s run for the Republican nomination for president in the already-underway GOP primary.

Politico reported that in just a couple of days following Trump’s Thursday, Aug. 24, booking, the campaign had raised $7.1 million, with $4.18 million pouring in Friday, Aug. 25, alone – a single-day fundraising record for the former president’s re-election effort to date, according to the campaign. Subsequent reports early the week of Aug. 27 suggested the tally had risen to over $11 million.

Trump mug shot mugs

A mug from the official campaign collection.

“The campaign’s fundraising has been powered by merchandise it has been selling through his online store,” Politico reported. The merch is available from Trump Save America JFC, a joint fundraising committee on behalf of Donald J. Trump for President 2024 Inc. and Save America. About 90% of the fundraising proceeds are expected to go to Trump’s campaign and 10% to Save America.

Donald Trump Jr.’s website was also selling mugshot-bearing merch. One T-shirt featured the booking photo and the words “Free Trump.” Another showed the mugshot with the message “Wanted 2024: Four More Years.”

On “X,” the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, Trump Jr. said profits will support his father’s legal defense. “Unlike many, I won’t try to profit from this but will do what I can to help,” Trump Jr. posted.

Beyond official merch that benefits Trump’s campaign or legal defense, there were also many opportunistic online sellers offering products that feature what some say is undoubtedly the most famous mugshot in America at the moment.

On Etsy, for instance, there were T-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, mugs – even toilet paper. Some of the T-shirt and sweatshirt sellers were allowing customers to personalize text on top of the booking photo.

Laura Brown, who runs an Etsy shop called FearlessFindsGifts, has sold around 100 mugs since she listed the item. It’s the first time she’s turned a profit since the May launch of her Etsy store, she told Insider.

“While some sellers say they’re making political statements through the items they’re selling, others suggest their focus is capitalizing on an unprecedented moment in the news cycle — and American history,” Insider reported.

Trump opponents were putting the mugshot to use on merch, too. Rock band Green Day, whose members have aligned with liberal causes in the past, were selling a T-shirt that featured the mugshot and the word “Nimrod” imposed over Trump’s face. Proceeds are to benefit a nonprofit helping victims of the Maui wildfires, according to the band.

During his victorious 2016 presidential campaign and subsequent presidency, Trump built buzz with what has become one of the most recognizable, popular and controversial promotional products of all time: red hats with the slogan “Make America Great Again” (MAGA). More than just merch, the hats became reference points – flags flown to signify a worldview and particular allegiance – in America’s culture wars.

Some promo observers have said Trump’s strategic and prolific investment in not just the MAGA hats but in merch generally has helped catalyze the phenomenon of using imprinted products – especially apparel – to promote causes and political/social positions. A recent article in The New York Times delved into how GOP presidential hopefuls are attempting to use moment merch to distinguish themselves in a crowded field.

“Whatever happens at the first Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday,” Vanessa Friedman wrote for the Times just before the first debate, “… whatever revelations emerge from the melee of eight (count ’em) contenders, whatever slings and arrows are thrown, and whoever is declared the winner, one thing is certain: There will be a viral moment or two; a riposte that becomes a meme. Campaign staff will be watching. And before you can say ‘in my prime’ or ‘too honest,’ it will end up on a T-shirt in a candidate’s store.”

Friedman added: “At a point in the electoral cycle when candidates are desperate to distinguish themselves and have only minutes onstage to do so, being able to deliver a zinger that will play on via swag is a key advantage.”