Dem
47
GOP
53
A fair number of presidents had giant egos—it kind of comes with the territory. You can't survive as many setbacks as a top-tier politician has to deal with unless you have a pretty strong opinion of yourself.
But even by the standards of his office—an office once held, mind you, by noted egomaniacs Andrew Jackson, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon—Donald Trump is unquestionably king. Take it from someone who has read an awful lot on this subject; nobody else is even in his league. And now, the President's fawning underlings are making sure to give him even more of the trappings of a king, namely placing his visage and/or signature on the nation's currency.
First up is the stomach-turning gold coin that has been approved by the all-Trump-appointed Commission of Fine Arts. It's got the picture of him standing with his fists on his desk on one side, an eagle on the obverse, and is ostensibly meant to celebrate the U.S. semiquincentennial. It is being produced under authority granted by Congress in the waning days of Trump v1.0.
The coin will be collectible, and so will not circulate. A price has not yet been announced, but the rubes
supporters of Trump should expect to pay a mint, both literally and figuratively. No release date has been announced,
but one has to imagine it will be available by July 4, which means that the process is going to have to be quick. No
living president before Trump has been featured on a U.S.-Mint-produced coin, circulating or otherwise.
We are, of course, aware of the potential propaganda value of coinage. There's a reason that kings and queens and emperors and empresses and shahs and the like made sure to put their mugs on coins for thousands of years. In an American context, the most obvious example of coins-as-propaganda is the steel pennies issued by the mint in 1943 and 1944. Officially that was to save copper for the war effort, but the more significant goal was to give civilians a constant reminder of the ongoing war effort, and their role in sustaining it.
It is not entirely clear to us what's driving this coin project, but we have three theories, and we'd bet at least one of them is correct. The first, and most obvious, is that this is just more pandering to Trump's ego, and his apparently desperate desire to feel like he's left "his mark" on history. The second is that Congress also passed another bill in the waning days of Trump v1.0 that would allow a different Trump coin, this one circulating, and with a value of $1. The commemorative coin might be paving the way for that. The third is that living people control their own right of publicity. So, Trump would theoretically be entitled to a royalty for every coin bearing his likeness. He might try to start collecting immediately, or he might wait until a whole bunch of coins are in circulation and THEN demand payment, backed by a lawsuit (see above).
Moving on to paper money, the White House announced yesterday that, also "in honor" of the semiquincentennial, Trump's signature would be added to U.S. bills. The signatures of the sitting treasurer and treasury secretary already appear on all paper currency; Trump's is reportedly going to be added next to that of Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.
We seriously doubt that many people will even see the Trump commemorative coins. Most also will not see the Trump $1 coins, if they should come to pass, because Americans just don't use $1 coins. If you are American, think of how many times you've handled a Herbert Hoover $1 coin, or a James Monroe $1 coin. They exist, but the answer for virtually all readers must surely be "zero times."
On the other hand, people certainly will see the Trump-signed bills, since most people use paper money, at least sometimes. We suppose that, in addition to the "ego" considerations we describe above, Trump might also think this will help his brand, on some level. If so, we would guess he is wrong. Most people don't look closely at their money, and they certainly don't examine the signatures. So, the way most people would know about this is by seeing stories about the change to the currency. And we would imagine that, on the whole, it's more likely to be a turnoff ("What is with this guy? Does he think he's a king?") than a turn-on ("Another great macho move from Donald Trump!"). Those are just our guesses, though—as with the coins, there is no precedent for a president to force his signature onto American currency.
And as long as we are on the general subject of Republicans stroking Trump's ego, we might as well pass along the news that Trump spoke at the National Republican Congressional Committee annual fundraising dinner on Wednesday night, and Mike Johnson and his colleagues "honored" Trump with yet another made-up trophy, this one called the America First Award. Johnson swore, up and down, that although this honor has never been given before, it's going to be an "annual tradition" from here on out. Uh, huh. We'll believe that once we learn the identity of the SECOND Champion for Freedom Award, or the SECOND FIFA Peace Prize. We're not sure what is more unbelievable—that these people are willing to debase themselves like this, or that Trump does not see through the gambit and (apparently) thinks these are actual honors. (Z)