The United States Mint has already begun producing a new golden one-dollar coin featuring the ubiquitous face of President Donald Trump. This was announced by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent through a post on the social network X, in which he explained that the coin commemorates the 250th anniversary of the country’s independence. “With the image of President Trump, it celebrates the strength of American values and the promise of a nation dedicated to preserving freedom for all,” Bessent added.
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The Trump Administration has insisted, in its second term, on placing the president’s image in as many places as possible. His face already hangs on banners of federal buildings and could soon appear on commemorative passports and $250 commemorative bills that the White House has already planned. His name also appears on the renamed Trump Institute for Peace and, until the courts stopped it, on the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Trump will become the second sitting president to produce an official coin with his face, after Calvin Coolidge, who in 1926 minted the half-dollar commemorating the 150th anniversary of the U.S. Unlike Coolidge, whose profile appeared alongside that of George Washington, the country’s first president, Trump dominates the coin alone and facing forward in the illustration published by Bessent.
Trump is the second sitting president to put his face on a coin, despite the law expressly prohibiting it
To the right of the Republican’s face, the obverse also features the phrase “In God We Trust” (the official motto of the U.S.), surrounded by the word “liberty” and the dates “1776-2026.” The reverse shows an eagle holding arrows in one claw and olive branches in the other, an image based on the Great Seal of the U.S., which already appears on many coins and dollar bills.
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According to sources from the Treasury Department confirmed to the U.S. press, the coin is already “in production and is minted in Philadelphia, and will be available in the fall.”
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The White House revealed last year its intention to manufacture this coin, and doubts then arose about whether it is legal for a sitting president to put his face on coins. In 2020, Congress passed a law granting the Treasury Department the authority to mint one-dollar coins in 2026 to commemorate the 250th anniversary with “emblematic designs of the semiquincentennial.” However, the same law states that “no head-and-shoulders or bust portrait of any person, living or deceased, nor any portrait of a living person may be included in the reverse design.” Additionally, according to another 1982 law, “only the portrait of a deceased person may appear on U.S. currency.”
In response to accusations of breaking the law, Bessent defended himself this week on Fox News citing the example of Coolidge, the 30th president of the country. “During the 150th anniversary, there was a Calvin Coolidge coin, so yes, we can put images of living presidents on a coin,” he stated.
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