Within hours of former President Donald Trump being booked in Fulton County, Georgia on his fourth indictment, the storied GOP frontrunner posted on the social media site X — formerly known as Twitter — for the first time since Jan. 8, 2021, which was two days after the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
His first post in over two years featured a photo of the mugshot taken minutes earlier at a Fulton County jail as part of a prosecution supporters widely perceive to be political persecution over his attempts to uncover details about suspected fraud during the 2020 election.
The photo was beset with the words:
MUG SHOT — AUGUST, 24 2023
ELECTION INTERFERENCE
NEVER SURRENDER!
https://t.co/MlIKklPSJT pic.twitter.com/Mcbf2xozsY
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 25, 2023
Given the former president now has his own social media site, Truth Social, his re-emergence on a rival platform that banned him more than two and a half years ago could be a sign that Trump is ready to take the gloves off and launch a searing attack against his opponents, as he wades through the legal morass of multiple indictments while campaigning to win another term leading the nation from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
The link connects to a Trump campaign page with a personal message from the former president:
Today, at the notoriously violent jail in Fulton County, Georgia, I was ARRESTED despite having committed NO CRIME.
The American people know what’s going on.
What has taken place is a travesty of justice and ELECTION INTERFERENCE.
The Left wants to intimidate YOU out of voting for a political outsider who puts the American people FIRST.
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.
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.
Reaction to the post was swift, racking up more than 344,ooo likes, 149,000 re-posts, and 82,000 comments within the first hour alone, mostly from the former president’s most ardent supporters who refuse to abandon him despite the numerous attempts to put him behind bars.
Trump was arraigned following a two-year investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose investigation was sparked by a phone call Trump and his team had with Georgia officials in an attempt to shed light on allegations that illegal votes were counted during the 2020 election.
The arraignment came less than 24 hours after Trump’s primary challengers traded barbs in the Republican Party’s first primary election debate — an event Trump chose not to attend, given his significant lead over all of his rivals. Most polls show Trump with at least a 30-point advantage over second-place challenger, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
