America’s 250th anniversary celebration is underway after the final design of a 24-karat gold commemorative coin with President Donald Trump’s image was approved, the Associated Press reports.
The design was unanimously approved by the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, a commission where all members were appointed by and are avid fans of the 47th president.
The approval gives the U.S. Mint permission to start production on the coin.
The coin design is another move where Trump is pushing his image, which U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach referred to as “emblematic” and other unprecedented ways to get what he wants.
“As we approach our 250th
birthday, we are thrilled to prepare coins that represent the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, and there is no profile more emblematic for the front of such coins than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump,” Beach said in a statement.It’s the latest example of the indicted leader making his place in the historical archive, after renaming the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue and a new class of battleships after himself.
Coin holders will see Trump standing with fists on his desk, which Trump aide Chamberlain Harris says is “a very strong and very tough image of him,” according to CNN, in addition to the word “LIBERTY” spelled out above the dates 1776 and 2026.
With an eagle soaring in the back, it references another recent White House photo installed at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. The size and denomination are still being discussed, but the commission’s vice chair, James McCrery, said the coin should be “large as ever.”
“I think the president likes big things. Is two inches a good starting point and to work up from there?” said McCrery, the original architect of Trump’s massive 89,000-square-foot ballroom project before he was replaced.
“I think the larger the better, and the largest of that circulation, I think, would be his preference,” Harris said.
Of course, social media users put in their two cents about what the coin should look like, include images of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein side-by-side.
Another X user questioned whether there are legal proceedings that prohibit images of living presidents from appearing on money.
“I thought there was a law about not putting living presidents on coins. Oh yeah, that was when we were a nation of laws instead of a criminal cult dictatorship,” @carolyn_from wrote.
There are no laws banning sitting presidents from appearing on commemorative coins; Calvin Coolidge appeared on one in 1926. But the commission is also reviewing a proposed $1 Trump coin, which has raised legal questions because a law prohibits the display of a sitting president or a living former president on currency.