Trump’s new presidential portrait has ‘mugshot vibes’


Donald Trump and JD Vance pose for photographer Daniel Torok. Photo: X
President-elect Donald Trump’s new portrait that will hang in thousands of government buildings has been released — and it looks startlingly familiar.
The official portraits of the incoming president and his Vice President JD Vance were taken by Trump’s personal photographer Daniel Torok.
The images were released ahead of Trump’s inauguration in Washington next week.
Trump’s picture shows his brightly lit face scowling at the camera in a look that closely resembles his famous mugshot taken when he was arrested in 2023.
The original police photo was taken in the Fulton County Jail, in Georgia, when he was charged over alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results in that state.

Spot the mugshot. The new portrait on the left looks curiously familiar.
In the new shot, Trump’s head and shoulders are angled similarly to the mugshot, and his eyebrows are raised above a steely stare and pursed lips.
The portrait of JD Vance is similarly lit against a dark background, but the Vice President is smiling in a more traditional portrait pose, with his arms crossed.
Trump’s new image is in contrast to his first presidential portrait, released in 2017 (nine months after his inauguration), in which he wears a toothy grin.

Grinning for the camera in 2017. Photo: Library of Congress
Trump’s transition team released the fresh shots of Trump and Vance and said in a statement: “They go hard”.
Trump’s photographer also shared the shots on X with the caption: ‘We are entering the GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA!’
The reaction was mixed, with one social media user quipping: “Just in: The official portrait of the 47th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. This goes hard. Total mugshot vibes.”
As Trump prepares to move back into the White House, US President Joe Biden delivered his farewell address.
Speaking from the Oval Office as he prepares to hand over power, Biden seized the opportunity to highlight the accumulation of power and wealth in the US among just a small few.
He warned of an “oligarchy” of the ultra-wealthy and of a “tech-industrial complex” infringing on Americans’ rights and the future of democracy.
“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that literally threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.
He drew attention to “a dangerous concentration of power in the hands of a few ultra-wealthy people. Dangerous consequences if their abuse of power is left unchecked.”
Invoking President Dwight Eisenhower’s warnings about the military-industrial complex when he left office in 1961, Biden added, “I’m equally concerned about the potential rise of a tech-industrial complex that could pose real dangers to our country as well.”
The president warned Americans to be on guard for their freedoms and their institutions during a turbulent era of rapid technological and economic change.
It marked a striking admonition by Biden, who is departing the national stage after more than 50 years in public life, as he has struggled to define his legacy against the return of Trump to the Oval Office.
Billionaire Elon Musk spent more than $US100 million on helping Trump get elected, and executives like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos have donated to Trump’s inaugural committee and made pilgrimages to Trump’s private club in Florida for audiences with the president-elect.
-with AAP