Trump’s Face on a Dollar Bill?

At the height of the Civil War in 1864, the U.S. government, facing a metal shortage due to the production of weapons, decided to create bills in place of five-cent coins. Civil War hero William Clark was nominated to be the figure printed on the bill. However, after the decision was finalized, something absurd happened. In an act of “self-issuance,” a U.S. Treasury official with the same last name, Clark, decided to print his own face on the bill. Criticism was strong, including claims such as, “It is derogatory to the dignity and the self-respect of the nation." Additionally, an assembly enacted legislation to prevent a recurrence of the issue, stipulating that only the faces of deceased individuals could be featured on U.S. currency.

After roughly 160 years of preservation, this legislation is now being tested. This year, the Trump administration is pushing for the issuance of a $250 bill bearing Donald Trump’s face in commemoration of America’s 250th anniversary. The bill’s proposal calls for Trump’s scowling mug shot, taken after he was indicted on suspicion of election racketeering, to be printed on the bill. Also shown on the bill would be the number 4547, signifying Trump’s position as the 45th and 47th U.S. president. It has been reported that Trump has been in direct contact with the British painter who designed the bill to provide his own personal opinions.

Trump’s aides in the Treasury Department are leading this operation, but adding a living person’s portrait to a bill would violate existing laws. Also, the denominations of U.S. currency are stipulated by law as $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. In order for a $250 “Trump bill” to be issued, the law must change first, and even then the likelihood of it being passed isn’t high. Nevertheless, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “I don’t think that there’s anything untoward about having the President of the United States, the person who was president of the United States on the 250th anniversary, on the bill.” He is still making these incredible remarks.

Amid all this, Patricia Solimene, director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, was the only one willing to speak directly. She was recently dismissed from her role after speaking out about legal and procedural limitations of the proposed bill. Supporting her stance, Solimene said, “I never sacrificed the values or character of myself or the organization and always prioritized the U.S. Currency Program and the value each employee brings to the mission.” As a public official, direct statements would seem only natural, but in Trump’s administration, nobody is safe. The FBI director who denied Trump’s request to halt an investigation, the head of the IRS who refused to provide taxpayer information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director who opposed vaccine conspiracies have already been dismissed.

Former U.S. presidents who have accomplished great feats are primarily printed on U.S. bills, including George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Trump’s attempt to place his face on a bill seems to reflect both his desire to be remembered as a major U.S. president and his impatience to seize the opportunity before it slips away. It would be difficult to find another instance of an incumbent leader featuring their own face on a bill in a non-monarchic, democratic country. The only comparable examples are leaders of dictatorships, including Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi and North Korea’s Kim Il Sung. In the Trump administration, the number of advisers willing to warn Trump that he may find himself alongside these dictators is dwindling.