‘Never Surrender’: The Mug Shot That Ricocheted

By Al Perrotta Published on August 27, 2023

How soon before Democrats accuse Soros-funded D.A. Fani Willis of making an in-kind contribution to the Trump campaign?

Since Trump came down that elevator at Trump Tower, Democrats and Never Trumpers have been dreaming of Trump’s arrest … fantasizing over seeing a Trump mug shot.

Thanks to Willis, they finally got that mug shot Thursday night. Right between the eyes. They wanted defeat? They got defiance. They got a pose, a glare, practiced, planned and tanned. They got β€œCome and Take It.” β€œDamn the Torpedoes, Fire Away.” β€œLet’s Roll.” “Go Ahead, Make My Day.” They got Churchill staring down the Nazis.

They got Trump’s first return to X … aka Twitter … since being suspended. And 250 million views.

They got, as Alan Dershowitz had predicted, a cash cow for the Trump campaign. The mug shot had barely shot around the world before Trump campaign swag featured the mug shot … and the words β€œNever Surrender.” By Saturday, the campaign had banked $7.1 million after the shot, with $4.18 coming Friday. The biggest daily haul thus far in his campaign.

Never Surrender … a Message for America on the Verge of Collapse

But money’s the least of the gift Willis β€” perhaps in partnership with Special Counsel Jack Smith β€” has given Trump. When the hangover hits the gleeful, spiteful cable news hosts, they’ll open their bleary eyes to see another image from Thursday that’ll have them reaching for double the Advil.

It’s the images of Trump rolling through a poor, black, crime-soaked Atlanta neighborhood while on his way to court … and residents lined up cheering.

(Hard not to contrast to the jeers and curses Joe Biden got days earlier riding through battered, deep-blue Hawaii.)

In the thirst to destroy Trump and maintain power, the regime has turned a white billionaire into yet another innocent being rung up by the System. A man standing strong against it.

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When President Trump spoke to the students at Liberty University in 2017, he told them β€œnever ever, ever, ever give up.” Easy to say on a sunny spring day when you’re President of the United States, and easy to float right by the heads of excited graduates. But when you say β€œNever Surrender” while under the fiercest political persecution this country has ever seen? When you say it under a mug shot taken in one of the most brutal jails in America? (So a snickering Nicole Wallace seemed nearly ecstatic to point out on MSNBC.)

When you say it to those in poor communities being crushed by crime and the economy, boy, has Trump gained an extraordinary weapon for rallying those whom our elites have kicked to the curb. Including millions of urban voters whom Democrats think they own.

Oliver Anthony gave voice to it. Trump can give muscle to it. All while MSNBC and CNN … and Biden himself … laugh and snark about it. In their bubbles north of Richmond they have no idea.

Newt Gingrich almost nailed it on Life, Liberty & Levin.

Many people who may not like Trump’s personality look at this and think β€˜Here are my choices. I’m going to side with a totally corrupt administration or I’m going side with the guy who has the guts to stand there and take the beating and keep coming.’

The reaction resonates deeper than that. Not “totally corrupt administration,” but “those who’ve done me wrong.” It’s not just blacks in urban communities who would hear the message. It’s the Hispanics in border towns getting ravaged by the open border. It’s Muslims outraged their kids must be force-fed gender ideology in violation of their faith. It’s the forgotten Americans of every hue and creed.

Fani Willis and her benefactors have given the Left its Trump mug shot. But they’ve given Trump the moment … and maybe the election.

They’ve unwittingly released an image that shouts to the down and out, the harassed, harangued, harried … and the hopeless … “We have not yet begun to fight.”

 

Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.

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