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Donald Trump’s name and face have been stamped on everything from buildings to books, casinos to steaks.
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But as America celebrates its 250th birthday, Trump, the developer-turned-reality-TV-star-turned-president, is putting his name on currency and cultural institutions, park passes and passports, breaking long-held norms along the way.
In mid-July, the U.S. Mint began pressing $1 gold coins with Trump’s face, even as questions swirled over whether or not it was legal for a living president’s likeness to appear on U.S. currency. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a social media post unveiling the new coins that it “celebrates the strength of American values, and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all.”
The coins, which have a “gold-like finish,” are slated to be released into circulation in the fall, Treasury said.
Critics, including ethics groups, historians and government watchdogs, say Trump is using the national milestone, meant to be a bipartisan celebration of our shared history, to benefit his personal and financial interests in a way that’s both unprecedented and unpresidential.
The White House doesn’t see it that way. “President Trump is focused on saving our country – not garnering recognition,” said White House spokesman Davis Ingle in an emailed response to USA TODAY.
“The President is ensuring that America gets the spectacular 250th birthday it deserves,” Ingle added, citing events including the Great American State Fair, Patriot Games and Salute to America, among others. This year, he said, “is sparking a renewal of patriotism and national pride under this President’s leadership.
“Anyone who finds a problem with that clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
A historian’s take: ‘The past decade isn’t normal’
David Barrett is a political science professor at Villanova University and has taught courses on the presidency, from George Washington to today, for more than 30 years. He said he’s had to emphasize to his students that the political era in which they’re coming of age “isn’t normal in the long sweep of history.”
Trump’s impulse to attach his name, his preferred aesthetic and his imprint on institutions, currency and even the architecture of the nation’s capital are far outside the norm.
“In the first century of our history it was really considered unseemly and even kind of unconstitutional,” said Barrett. “Even into the modern era, it was considered not illegal, but certainly unseemly and unpresidential.”
Americans are, he said, “for better or worse, in a unique era where the president has his image all over the place.”
Barrett told USA TODAY he’d reread the speech then-President Gerald Ford gave at Independence Hall in Philadelphia on July 4, 1976, in which Ford talked about the nation’s founding documents and principles and its continued evolution. “What he did not do at all,” Barrett noted, “was talk about Gerald Ford.”
However, egotism is not uncommon among presidents, he was quick to note. Anyone who holds the office wants to be well-regarded, both by their contemporaries and by history.
In addition to the $1 coins, here are some other items tied to America’s semiquincentennial that have or will include Trump’s imprint:
Trump on a $250 bill?
Mock-ups have been created for a new $250 bill that would include Trump’s portrait, which would mark the first time in 150 years that a living person has been featured on American currency. However, it’s still an open question whether the bill would ever be produced, become official currency and be released into circulation. Republican-backed legislation directing the Treasury department to produce the bill, meant to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary, remains mired in the House.
A different signature on American money
The Treasury department announced in March that Trump’s signature would appear on all paper currency, a departure from the traditional signatures of the U.S. treasurer and the secretary of the treasury that usually appear on monetary bills. It would be the first time in U.S. history that a sitting president’s signature appeared on American banknotes.
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According to Fortune, $100 bills with Trump’s signature began rolling out on July 4. Bessent wrote in a post on X that “there is no more powerful way to recognize the historic achievements of our great country and President Donald J. Trump than U.S dollar bills bearing his signature.
“It is only appropriate that this historic currency be issued at the Semiquincentennial,” the post added. Other bills with Trump’s signature are slated to appear later this year, though it will take several weeks for them to go through banks and enter general circulation.
Another proposed coin in Trump’s favorite color: gold
A commission hand-picked by Trump in March approved a 24-karat gold commemorative coin with Trump’s likeness in addition to the $1 coin. The Commission of Fine Arts OK’d the design, with Trump leaning over the Resolute Desk, modeled on a photo on display in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. The coin would have been about 3 inches in diameter.
It was to be part of a series of special-edition currencies released over the course of 2026, though it does not currently appear on the U.S. Mint’s website. It had not received approval from the Citizens Coinage Advisory Council, a nonpartisan, congressionally-created group that advises the Treasury on coin designs. The committee declined to review the coin, saying a sitting president on currency goes against the country’s founding principles and that federal law prohibits depicting a living person on U.S. currency.
‘Trump 250’ and Freedom 250 merchandise
A website run by the Trump Organization, which is led by his two oldest sons, Donald Jr. and Eric Trump, features a variety of “Trump 250” merchandise, including blankets, glasses, tote bags and T-shirts. A “Trump 250” polo shirt costs $105; a blanket with the logo is listed at $200. There’s also a $65 cigar holder-flask set, a $265 jacket and a “President Donald J. Trump gold medallion” for $1,060 (a similar silver medallion will set buyers back much less, at $180).
The items, part of the Trump Store, were listed a month after the Trump Organization filed a slew of trademark applications relating to the nation’s 250th birthday.
The Trump administration-backed Freedom 250 events on the National Mall (which were separate from the bipartisan, congressionally-created America250 events) included Trump merchandise as well. At the June 24 opening rally of the event (from which several performers backed out, citing the partisan nature of Freedom 250), T-shirts with the phrase “America Is Back” with a collage image of Trump retailed for $35. Red hats in Trump’s “Make America Great Again” style but bearing the “America Is Back” tagline, were also for sale at the opening rally, for $40. They were gone by the following day, USA TODAY reported at the time.
POTUS on passports
In June, Trump unveiled renderings of a commemorative U.S. passport with his image on it to mark the semiquincentennial. The new passports, Trump said in a June 26 social media post, reflected the message, “Welcome, but be good!” on what the White House called a “patriot passport.”
The image is of Trump leaning on the Resolute Desk, the text of the Declaration of Independence in the background. On the opposite page is an image of John Trumbull’s iconic painting of the signing of the Declaration. The State Department, which issues passports, called the limited edition passports “a piece of history that Americans can carry with pride as they travel the world, showing what American leadership looks like.”
About 40,000 of the passports were released, and available (for no additional charge) at the Washington (DC) Passport Agency.
Trump’s image on National Park passes
Trump’s face ‒ along with George Washington’s ‒ are on annual national park passes for U.S. residents. The “America the Beautiful” passes mark the first time a sitting president’s image has been on national parks passes, and environmentalists and others challenged the move in court. National parks passes typically depict landscapes and wildlife from across the nation’s flagship parks. And some park visitors bought stickers to cover Trump’s image ‒ a move that could invalidate the pass.
The move was part of an “America First” revamp that also raised annual park pass fees for international tourists ($250 versus $80 for U.S. citizens). The National Park Service added a new day on which American citizens and legal residents can visit for free: June 14, Flag Day, which is also Trump’s birthday. Juneteenth and Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which had previously had entry fees waived, were taken off the list of free days.
Phaedra Trethan is a national correspondent for USA TODAY, writing about history and Americana. Contact her by email at [email protected], on X @wordsbyphaedra, on BlueSky @byphaedra, or on Threads @by_phaedra.
Contributing: Karissa Waddick, Joey Garrison, Mary Walrath-Holdridge, Kinsey Crowley, Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump’s face is on what? 6 controversial decisions
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Reporting by Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY / USA TODAY
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