Not content with seeing his face and name plastered on federal buildings, passports, airports, and commemorative coins, President Donald Trump is now seeking to create a new denomination of U.S. currency that will have his ugly face smack dab in the center.
The Washington Post reported that Trump personally spoke with the artist who mocked up the $250 bill Trump wants created—even though federal law explicitly prohibits living people from appearing on U.S. currency.
In order for Trump to create the hideous and out-of-touch currency—of a denomination that most Americans currently suffering under Trump-induced inflation would never use—Congress would have to change the law.
31 U.S. Code § 5112 explicitly states:
No coin issued under this subsection may bear the image of a living former or current President, or of any deceased former President during the 2-year period following the date of the death of that President.
Because Trump is so obsessed with seeing his face on currency, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) introduced a bill last February that would “require the Secretary of the Treasury to print $250 Federal reserve notes featuring a portrait of Donald J. Trump.”
But the legislation hasn’t gone anywhere.
And asking the GOP-controlled Congress now to pass frivolous legislation to mint a new bill with Trump’s face on it, as they fail to pass legislation that actually helps Americans afford their cost of living, would be akin to political suicide.
Already, Democrats are making the argument in the midterms that Trump and Republicans are focused on everything but addressing affordability, as Trump’s war in Iran has spiked the price of gas and other goods.
Related | Why Republicans don’t actually give a damn about affordability
That message is working, as Trump’s approval rating is near an all-time low and Democrats’ lead on the generic congressional ballot is now higher than it was at the same point in 2018—the year Democrats rode a wave to retake the House majority.
Indeed, Democrats were already slamming Trump’s efforts to mint a new bill as out-of-touch and unhelpful, and vowed to block its creation.
“Months ago, I introduced legislation to stop Presidents from putting their signatures on U.S. currency because I knew Trump would try something like this. But even I didn’t expect to wake up to reports that Trump is now trying to invent a completely made-up $250 bill just so he can slap his ugly face on it,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) wrote in a post on X. “This is embarrassing for the country, and we must stop it.”
And Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) further clarified how out-of-touch Trump has become.
“As Americans struggle with the rising cost of gas, groceries, housing, and health care, President Trump’s priorities for taxpayer dollars are completely detached from the challenges families face every day: a gold-plated ballroom; a monument blocking Arlington National Cemetery; renaming buildings and airports after himself; rewards for allies who attacked the Capitol on January 6; a passport bearing his image; …and now, apparently, even a proposal for a $250 bill with his face on it,” Warner wrote in a post on X. “If this White House put even half as much energy into working to lower costs as it does into stoking the president’s ego, American families wouldn’t need that new $250 bill just to fill up their gas tanks.”
But the best response came from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who posted the image of the $250 bill mock-up with the text, “By the end of Trump’s term, it’ll be just enough to buy one gallon of gas and a carton of eggs.”
Got ’em.
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