Lara Trump to Newsmax: Mug Shot Symbolizes Trump's Toughness
Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of Donald Trump, told
Newsmax on Friday the former president's mug shot, taken Thursday while he was being booked into an Atlanta jail, will symbolize his toughness as a fighter and galvanize supporters who believe they have been wronged by the criminal justice system.
"That mug shot yesterday, that is the look of a fighter, ladies and gentlemen," Lara Trump, who is married to the former president's son Eric Trump, told "
Eric Bolling The Balance." "That is exactly what Donald Trump is, and that is exactly what he is doing. He is fighting not just for himself because he realizes that this is far bigger than just about him. This is about the future of America.
"This is about the fact that at this point we might as well take the stars and stripes off Old Glory and put a banana tree on there, because this is straight banana republic-type stuff that we've seen happen in this country.
"I think he knows — like a lot of Americans are starting to realize — if this is successful, if the corruption on the left is allowed to happen and allowed to succeed, we do lose this country in so many ways."
Not long after the former president was processed by authorities in Georgia, his campaign started selling merchandise printed with the famous mug shot and "Never Surrender" written underneath. T-shirts and long-sleeve shirts on Trump's
campaign website sell for $34 each. A signed 18-by-24-inch poster is $28; coffee mugs are $25 each; and a set of 4-by-4-inch bumper stickers are $12 each.
"I think they had T-shirts out within the hour of the mug shot being [released]," Lara Trump said. "Even people who didn't like Donald Trump, I think now with this mug shot, they see him as a symbol of everything that is wrong in this country.
"What they have done to him they see in themselves, people who feel they have been wronged by this system, just like Donald Trump."
Trump Team Threatens to Retaliate on Merch Knockoffs
Donald Trump's 2024 campaign is threatening to retaliate against knockoff memorabilia and those using the former president's iconic mug shot to make money.
Chris LaCivita, one of Trump's senior advisers, issued the strong warning through his social media
X account Thursday night.
"If you are a campaign, PAC [political action committee], scammer and you try raising money off the mugshot of @realDonaldTrump and you have not received prior permission ... we are coming after you," LaCivita assured. "You will not scam donors."
On Trump's
official website, supporters can purchase clothes and other items featuring the mug shot and the phrase "Never Surrender," including two-for-one $15 koozies, $34 T-shirts, $25 coffee mugs, and $28 posters.
Meanwhile, the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame & Museum said Friday it would enshrine the shot in its latest collection of special edition figures. It is unclear whether the museum consulted Trump's campaign.
"The Trump bobblehead features the former president's unsmiling, scowling mug shot on a base bearing his name," the museum stated, according to
The Hill. "Glaring into the camera, Trump's brow is furrowed, his jaw clenched, and his red tied knotted tightly."