(Mark Pellin, Headline USA) A reported $7.1-million geyser of cash for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign erupted after his historic and immediately iconic Fulton County mugshot was released, leaving his GOP primary competition in the dust and Democrats fuming in bewilderment and growing concern over the backlash from what was supposed to be a humiliating arrest and booking.
They weren’t alone. The notoriously establishment and increasingly irrelevant Never-Trump jackals at the Lincoln Project floated a fundraising gimmick that backfired with a spectacularly ironic gut punch. The TDS hucksters hawked chintzy shot glasses for $15 a pop, featuring Trump’s mugshot on one side and the letters FAFO on the other.
The Lincoln Project’s faux tough-guy sales pitch for the merch boasted, “Here’s to f**king around and finding out, Donald. Celebrate Trump’s newest criminal indictment with your very own mug-shot. Cheers! *Reusable with any future indictments*”
The Lincoln Project found out that their shot glasses could be used to drown their sorrows after Trump’s record fundraising.
The campaign’s haul in the 24 hours after his mugshot was released far outpaced the combined cash bump of his two closet primary competitors who participated in Wednesday night’s GOP primary debate, which was similarly overshadowed by Trump’s interview with Tucker Carlson.
Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis were seen by most as the top performers emerging from the primary pageant, a status reflected in day-after fundraising totals.
Ramaswamy was lauded for the $460,000 his campaign reportedly raised 24-hours after the debate, with another $600,000 added Thursday, while DeSantis crowed over his post-debate take topping $1 million.
The post-debate fundraising bump from the combined campaigns of Ramaswamy and DeSantis fell $5 million short of the total Trump raised in 24 hours after Fulton County DA Fani Willis got what was supposed to be her mugshot scalp of Trump.
Trump’s booking didn’t just pack a financial punch; it also injected a renewed boost of energy into his 2024 campaign.
The bounce started as Trump arrived Thursday with a presidentially imposing motorcade that was greeted by throngs of supporters lining Atlanta streets and thousands more watching events unfold live on TV.
“Flew in, rolled through the city deep, I’m talking gang gang,” offered a classic narration of Trump’s arrival to be booked, a process Democrats orchestrated in an attempt to cower the former president.
Thanks for the votes fani….Gangstaaaa livin
— Granny Hawkins (@GrannyOutlaw) August 25, 2023
“Donald say you want me here, I’m in Georgia, what’s up? Say something,” the narration of Trump’s arrival continued. “He done pulled up on ’em. He said let me pop out real quick. This man came to Georgia squad deep. Y’all talking about gang gang, you don’t know nothing about gang gang. Donald say this ain’t nothing but a little pit stop.”
Within 24 hours the pit stop had yielded $7.1 million, including the campaign’s largest single-day take of nearly $4.2 million on Friday alone, according to Trump adviser Steven Cheung.
“Close to $20m raised in the last 3 weeks, coinciding with indictment in DC and the Atlanta mugshot,” Cheung tweeted. “Organic money has skyrocketed, especially after @realDonaldTrump tweeted out the picture along with the website URL.”
Trump made a triumphant return to Twitter with a post of his mugshot and the battlecry message, “ELECTION INTERFERENCE. NEVER SURRENDER!”
Establishment media tried belittling Trump’s fundraising, with ABC News reporting that a message found on the campaign’s website “ends with a plea for a contribution.”
Trump’s purported desperate plea for cash: “If you are doing poorly due to the sinister people in control of our country right now, don’t even think about donating! But if you can, please make a contribution to evict Crooked Joe Biden from the White House and SAVE AMERICA during this dark chapter in our nation’s history.”
Trump’s fundraising haul was augmented by online merch sales featuring his mugshot on everything from coffee mugs and beer Koozies to t-shirts, hats, posters and bumperstickers. Trump supporters, in turn, used the merch to amplify the campaign’s message.
I'm totally getting this shirt. But in black. pic.twitter.com/xV9H6zO7FJ
— Sassafrass84 (@Sassafrass_84) August 27, 2023
“Today, at the notoriously violent jail in Fulton County, Georgia, I was ARRESTED despite having committed NO CRIME,” Trump wrote on his campaign’s website in a message posted Thursday.
“But today, I walked into the lion’s den with one simple message on behalf of our entire movement: I WILL NEVER SURRENDER OUR MISSION TO SAVE AMERICA,” the former president vowed.
LOL!!! They thought we were gonna be upset about this!!
It has already backfired 🔥🔥🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/fULuVhMjbK
— TONY™️ (@TONYxTWO) August 25, 2023
Mark Pellin is an editor at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/sabrepaw70.
