Trump’s Gold Coin Caper

The Steady State | by Greg Rushford

In having his name on official currency while in office, Trump can boast that he’s the only living American president in the small but very famous company of autocrats.

You can buy a Julius Caesar Getty Roman Coin online (Getty Museum: $24.00).

Or a Napoleon Emperor Coin Paris Mint, for $2,309. 1812 Gold France 40 Francs.

Perhaps most enticingly, there’s a 1775 King George III – British American Colonial Copper Halfpenny Non Regal coin, for only $10.50)

President Donald Trump has plenty to think about these days, beginning with his bombing of Iran and the continuing Iranian retaliatory missile strikes that have set the Middle East ablaze. Iranian forces have essentially shut down the vital oil-and-gas shipping lanes in the Straits of Hormuz, a body blow to the health of the global economy. The shock waves are hitting (furious) American allies (who have been insulted, not consulted). American servicemen and women have been killed in action, with more to come, the president has said.

Here at home, American consumers are facing skyrocketing prices at their gasoline pumps, wondering what their president was thinking when he launched his newest war of choice. While that remains unclear, one thing is clear: President Trump has been busy thinking of --- himself.

He’s been thinking about how to get Congress to change our nation’s voting rules so that his Republicans will win this November’s congressional midterm elections. And further thinking of how to get Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport (and other national landmarks) named after him, like he’s done (sans congressional authorization) with the John F. Kennedy Center and the U.S. Institute for Peace.

There’s much more on the president’s mind: This summer’s cage fighting spectacular on the South Lawn of the White House (perhaps on June 14, coincidentally the day Trump celebrates his 80^th birthday). Holding an Indianapolis-style auto race (185 mph along the streets of downtown Washington, D.C.), to highlight this July’s celebrations of America’s 250^th anniversary. And he’s surely been congratulating himself for spending the necessary time to persuade his MAGA loyalists at the U.S. Mint to issue a 24-karat gold coin to honor his likeness.

Trump’s latest vanity project has been thoroughly analyzed on late-night television. “Now you can have Trump in your pocket, like Saudi Arabia,” quipped Bill Maher. And this just in: It seems that with Trump, expressing vanity is increasingly open-ended. As the news reports this week, the Treasury Department is now working on the unprecedented step of putting Trump’s signature on dollar bills --- all new paper currency, actually.

Criticism aside, managing to get his name on official US coinage is a major accomplishment (of dubious legality for any living president). In his first term, Trump got the White House Gift Shop to offer a “Trump & Putin” medal coin to commemorate the (in)famous 2018 summit in Helsinki. Infamous in leading intelligence and diplomatic circles to this day, because that’s when Trump told the world’s press that he believed his friend Putin’s word that Russia had not covertly tried to help him defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, and not a deeply researched CIA analysis that had documented Putin’s operation. But now, success in manipulating the official U.S. Mint trumps the gift shop (which also now sells Joe Biden bobbleheads, along with many Trump touristy souvenirs).

It’s possible that any coin comparisons with the British King, who, with his tariffs on American tea, caused a famous party in Boston Harbor, might be of interest to some of the millions of American citizens who will be protesting in cities across the USA, come this Saturday’s March 28 No Kings demonstrations. Perhaps some might dress as King George Coins instead of the Turtles costumes that were prominent in last year’s No Kings’ rallies.

Greg Rushford is a former senior congressional aide (defense & intelligence) and a former Washington-based journalist who specialized in the nexus between national security and global trade politics. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.