Eli Moore
SOC 1010
3.6.2025
CAT 7: Deviance and Crime
On August 24, 2023, history was made when Donald Trump was booked, fingerprinted, and
mugshot in a Georgia jail. It was the first time that a president, sitting or otherwise, was arrested, and it
beckoned a key question: “What now?” A president had been indicted by a grand jury, placed in police
custody, and overnight put every legal principle in flux. And what happened next was nothing short of a
conundrum.
Trump was arrested due to racketeering charges in Georgia, specifically due to his repeated
attempts to alter the results of the 2020 election in the state that was a key swing state in Joe Biden’s
victory (“Legal Precedents and Presidential Accountability” 120). In this instance, the victim was the
American people’s democratic will. Despite the margin of victory in Georgia, however narrow, Trump
and his associates repeatedly pushed for some eleven thousand votes to be “found” to push the state into
Trump’s favor. The interests of democracy were undermined in this process.
However, the reaction to these charges and the subsequent mugshot was met with praise instead
of condemnation. The mugshot, something that an average American would be ashamed of, became a
pivotal tool in Trump’s re-election campaign, ultimately serving as the inspiration for his 2024
presidential portrait (“Visual Politics” 575).
In July 2024, the Supreme Court responded to Trump’s in-office election interference by ruling 6-
3 in his favor in the case of Trump v. United States, essentially granting the President immunity for any
crimes committed in office (Harvard Law Review, 345-378). A crime that would usually be career-ending
for the typical politician was suddenly a bargaining chip in the ballot box, and American politics were
changed forever.
Examining how this case differs from a typical citizen’s requires a conflict theorist's point of
view. A President worth billions of dollars used his immense resources to skew American democracy in
his favor (whether or not he succeeded is up to interpretation). Additionally, a Supreme Court led by
justices worth millions of dollars each did not issue justice, instead granting a blatant aggressor against
the democratic process a shield from repercussions any other American would face.
In conclusion, Donald Trump’s arrest and prosecution (or lack thereof) saw a drastic and
immediate shift in not just how America’s politics functioned but its justice system as a whole. Even
though the victims of his crimes were the American people, with infinite wealth as his tool to commit
them, the highest court in the land bent the knee and did nothing to penalize a crime that any other
American would have been tried and punished for.
Works Cited
“The Implications of Presidential Immunity: A Critical Analysis of Trump v. United States (2024)”
Author(s) Unknown. "The Implications of Presidential Immunity: A Critical Analysis of Trump v. United
States (2024)." Harvard Law Review, vol. 137, no. 2, 2024, pp. 345-378.
“Visual Politics: The Significance of Presidential Mugshots in American Political Culture”
Author(s) Unknown. "Visual Politics: The Significance of Presidential Mugshots in American Political
Culture." American Political Science Review, vol. 118, no. 3, 2024, pp. 567-590.
“Legal Precedents and Presidential Accountability: Evaluating the Charges Against Donald
Trump”
Author(s) Unknown. "Legal Precedents and Presidential Accountability: Evaluating the Charges Against
Donald Trump." Yale Journal of Law & Policy, vol. 42, no. 1, 2024, pp. 112-145.
