Team Trump reportedly eyeing $250 bill featuring his image, adding to glorification crusade
Over the course of Donald Trump’s second term, many of the president’s most sycophantic congressional allies have unveiled proposals intended to glorify him in outlandish ways. Some, for example, tried to make Trump’s birthday a federal holiday, while others wanted to carve Trump’s face into Mount Rushmore. Some unveiled legislation to rename Dulles International Airport after Trump, and others backed a bill to name Washington’s subway system after the president and his MAGA slogan.
But several GOP lawmakers have taken a particular interest in American currency. In fact, roughly a month after Inauguration Day, Republican Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina unveiled the Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act, which according to the congressman’s press release, would direct “the Bureau of Printing and Engraving to design and print a $250 dollar bill of legal U.S. tender that bears the image” of the Republican president.
What about an existing federal law that prohibits any living person from being depicted on U.S. currency? Wilson’s bill would create a one-time exception to the legal prohibition.
For the most part, the proposal was seen as more of a sad joke than an actual legislative proposal. It picked up 15 cosponsors but was otherwise ignored on Capitol Hill.
The underlying idea, however, was not ignored by officials on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. The Washington Post reported:
Trump administration officials have pressed the office responsible for printing the nation’s money to design a $250 bill featuring the president’s portrait, according to four current and former employees, in what would be the first appearance of a living person on U.S. currency in more than 150 years.
Starting last year, two political appointees at the Treasury Department — U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown — repeatedly urged staff at the agency’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare prototypes of the note, according to the employees, who said the move raised concerns because federal law currently allows only deceased people to appear on bills.
When the director of the printing bureau told the political appointees this wasn’t a realistic plan, she was abruptly reassigned.
The Post’s report, which has not been independently verified by MS NOW, added that the same political appointees “provided bureau staff with mock-up designs for the note,” which naturally featured Trump’s face in the center of the $250 bill.
The artist who designed the mock-up, Iain Alexander, confirmed on the record that he had spoken with the president about the project and received ideas for changes directly from Trump.
A spokesperson for the Treasury Department didn’t make any meaningful effort to push back against the reporting, telling the Post that the printing office “is conducting appropriate planning and due diligence” in response Wilson’s proposed legislation — which, again, has gained no traction whatsoever.
“Should this legislative mandate be signed into law, the [Bureau of Printing and Engraving] is moving proactively to produce a $250 commemorative note which will appropriately recognize the 250th Anniversary of our great nation,” the statement said.
I won’t pretend to know what’s likely to happen with this plainly ridiculous effort, but this seems like a good time to update the broader list documenting the scope of the increasingly weird Trump glorification campaign.
U.S. currency: In case the $250 bill gambit weren’t quite jarring enough, Trump recently announced plans to add his signature to U.S. dollars — a first for a sitting American president — which is not to be confused with plans for a massive, 3-inch commemorative gold coin featuring Trump’s face.
Renaming buildings: The president’s allies have already added Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center and the Institute of Peace. By some accounts, the president expects the proposed White House ballroom to bear his name too.
U.S. military: Plans to construct “Trump-class” battleships are underway, and the nation’s next-generation fighter jet is set to have an “F-47” designation in honor of him. (Trump is the nation’s 47th president.)
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Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
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