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Design for illegal Trump Dollar is "real," says U.S. Treasurer [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2025-10-06  

Coin designs depicting a "Trump Dollar" are "real", according to U.S. Treasurer Brandon Breach. They plan to issue them to commemorate America's 250th birthday in 2026. It is against the law for the a living president, sitting or former, to be depicted on U.S. coins within two years of their death. Before he was placed in charge of the money, Breach was best-known as a MAGA conspiracy theorist who made a point of attending public events while infected with the Covid-19 virus.

The coin design depicts Trump after an attempted assassination in Bulter, Pennsylvania, during the 2024 election campaign.

"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," according to the US code governing coin design. … That law also states, "No head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, and no portrait of a living person may be included in the design on the reverse of specified coins." In anticipation of America's 250th anniversary, Congress passed the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act, which allows the US Treasury to mint special $1 coins to celebrate the event. The act states that the Treasury secretary may "mint for issuance during the one-year period beginning January 1, 2026, $1 dollar coins with designs emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial."

Note the clever trick? The design puts Trump on the front of the coin. The part of the law specifying "portrait or bust" on the reverse of specified coins will be taken to obviate the part of the law prohibiting "images" anywhere on coins.

The only living president to be featured on a coin was Calvin Coolidge in 1926, as shown online by The American Numismatic Association.

To answer the obvious question: you must accept cash for debts, you don't have to accept it as payment for goods or services.

Previously: Kickstarting modern hobo coins

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2025/10/06/design-for-illegal-trump-dollar-is-real-says-u-s-treasurer.html

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