The U.S. Mint has started producing a new $1 coin featuring President Donald Trump’s image. (AP Graphic/Treasury Department, File)
The $1 coin designed to celebrate America’s 250th birthday — and seemingly President Donald Trump, whose face gazes from one side of the gold finish — went on sale Wednesday, according to the U.S. Mint.
The coin’s design — Trump’s visage as “heads” and the Great Seal of the United States as “tails” — received the stamp of approval this year from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, whose members Trump appointed. In past comments, the president said that the idea to stamp his face on a coin was “very unusual” but that he was “honored by it.”
The president’s second term has brought several such brandings, or attempts at them, that have become tangled up in lawsuits. That includes moves to put Trump’s name on the Kennedy Center and the U.S. Institute of Peace, as Trump works to leave his stamp on history and on Washington, D.C.
The coins, which can be used as legal tender, drew some criticism, particularly because of federal law that bars the depiction of a living president on U.S. currency. But in some circumstances, the Treasury Secretary does have authority to authorize the minting and issuance of special coins.
