This story first appeared on Truthout.
ederal commission tasked with approving designs for coinage has approved a 24-karat gold coin featuring President Donald Trump, flouting precedent regarding commemorating living presidents and possibly violating federal law.
The coin, formally meant to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the founding of the United States, shows Trump standing behind a desk, firmly pushing his two fists on top of it while giving a stern look in the direction of the coin holder.
The unanimous vote from the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts occurred on Thursday.
The commission is composed entirely of people appointed by the president, following his firing of its former members last fall.
Commission member Chamberlain Harris, who is also a political adviser to Trump, defended the decision to mint a gold coin featuring a living president.
“I think it’s fitting to have a current sitting president who’s presiding over the country over the 250th year on a commemorative coin for said year,” Harris said.
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach similarly heaped praise on the idea of featuring Trump on a coin. Said Beach:
As we approach our 250th birthday, we are thrilled to prepare coins that represent the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, and there is no profile more emblematic for the front of such coins than that of our serving President, Donald J. Trump.
Federal law bars the depiction of living presidents and public figureson currency.
The U.S. Mint may try to sidestep that rule by insisting that those standards don’t apply to this coin, as it is a “commemorative” coin that will be limited in production and isn’t intended for regular currency circulation.
Only one president in U.S. history has ever had his image placed on a coin while he was still living — Calvin Coolidge, in 1926.
The action — also done to commemorate the anniversary of the country’s “birth” — drew controversy and outrage, resulting in most of the coins being re-collected and melted down.
There’s another hurdle that could prevent the coin from being minted — while the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts has approved the design, another panel, the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), is supposed to give approval, too, before the action can commence.
That committee is bipartisan and consists of coin collectors and historians who determine the appropriateness and relevance of coin minting decisions.
Last month, the CCAC ruled against minting the proposed Trump coin.
“It’s wrong. It goes against American culture and the traditions that drive what we put on our coinage,” said CCAC member Michael Moran, a coin collector who is a Republican.
Curiously, the U.S. Mint removed video from its website of the CCAC meeting where the coin was voted down last month. Members denounced the proposed coin as something only produced by “kings or dictators.”
Even with the CCAC voting against the coin — which Trump reportedly had a hand in selecting himself — it’s possible the administration may still try to mint it.
“We still fully expect them to plough ahead” with the coin featuring Trump’s image, CCAC member Donald Scarinci said.
The depiction of Trump on a coin minted by the federal government — whether in circulation or not — is perhaps emblematic of Trump’s blatant authoritarianism while in office.
Indeed, Julius Caesar, long-considered the first statesperson to have a coin minted in their image, had said coin produced as he was consolidating political power, transforming the Roman Republic into a dictator-run empire.
Trump has taken similar dictatorial actions during his second term in office.
Notably, the U.S. has experienced a recent downgrade of its democracy rating for several reasons relating to Trump, including his attacks on the free press and the media, as well as the concentration of power by the executive branch under his tenure.
Trump has also drawn immense criticism for his use of the Department of Justice to target his perceived political enemies, often at his own direction.
And he regularly accuses political opponents who disagree with him of treason and/or sedition, accusations that carry with them the possibility of the death penalty under federal law.
These reasons and others have been cited by avid coin collector and former CCAC panel member, NBA Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as reasons why Trump is undeserving of a coin featuring his likeness.
“I’m not enthusiastic about memorializing Mr. Trump on a coin because he has done so much damage to our country,” Abdul-Jabbar said in a recent statement.
“It takes a huge consensus to get agreement on something like this, and I’m not inclined to be supportive of the president’s request.”
