GOP Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he thinks it’s “a little silly” for the State Department to be putting President Donald Trump’s likeness on U.S. passports.
Asked about the plans to feature the president’s face and gilded signature on the inside cover of a limited run of passports commemorating America’s 250th birthday, he told CNN, “We laughed at Russia when they had pictures of Lenin and Stalin everywhere” during the Soviet era.
Citing other communist countries, Bacon added, “Go to China, they had pictures of Mao everywhere. You go to North Korea, pictures of ... Kim Jong Un.”
“We’re America, and I think we do less of that,” the Republican continued, calling the move an “overreach” on the part of Trump “subordinates” trying to “cater for his attention.”
The Bulwark was the first to report the redesign, which will be printed on 250,000 travel documents only available through in-person renewals at the Washington, D.C., passport agency.
