An MSNBC panel reacted to former president Donald Trump’s Fulton County Jail mugshot Thursday, with co-host Joy-Ann Reid calling the image a “sinister apparition.” The airing of the photograph, taken at about 7:30 p.m. in Fulton County Jail, was prefaced by Rachel Maddow explaining the seriousness of the situation, and emphasizing that Trump is presumed innocent until proven guilty—“in accordance with the rule of law, for his sake and for ours.” Maddow continued: “The rule of law and health of our democracy depend on our ability as citizens to take this with the sort of heft that it needs to look at this and see it as American citizens who prize country above politics, and who prize the law rather than the fate of any one man.” Minutes later, Reid pointed out that Trump has “thrived on the anger of a certain demographic of Americans who’ve decided the country is leaning away from them.” She added of Trump, who continues to lead his rivals in the GOP primary despite the Georgia RICO indictment being his fourth criminal indictment this year: “He’s embodying the avatar for the rage that he has traded off of to become president in the first place. That is not the, you know, funny reality show star that Americans elected in 2016. That’s a sinister apparition that I’m seeing in front of me.” Later on Thursday, Trump returned to Twitter, the website now known as X, with a post of the mugshot, and his campaign is already selling a t-shirt with the image on it for $47.
