🛑 Keep Trump Off Our Money
The Treasury plans to put Trump’s signature on U.S. currency. Here’s why it threatens democratic norms and why Congress must stop it.
Friends,
A country should never look at its own currency and see the vanity of a sitting president stamped into the people’s daily life. This week, the Treasury Department announced that Donald Trump’s signature will appear on new U.S. paper currency, making him the first sitting president whose signature appears on American legal tender. The change would also remove the treasurer’s signature from new notes, ending a tradition that dates to 1861, with the first new $100 bills expected in June. 1
That is not a harmless design choice. Money is one of the most public symbols a democracy has. It passes through the hands of workers, parents, retirees, immigrants, and neighbors trying to survive in an economy that already asks too much of ordinary people. Our currency should reflect the shared trust of the nation, not the ego of one man.
The Treasury should serve the people with neutrality, not serve a president with loyalty.
Our currency should reflect democratic trust, not presidential vanity.
The Treasury belongs to the public, not to one president’s ego.
Public institutions should honor the nation, not flatter the president.
The Treasury should protect democracy, not promote a president’s brand.
Trump administration officials have proposed minting a $1 coin featuring President Donald Trump’s image on it to mark the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States next year, a plan that could violate the law. 2
Trump’s allies want Americans to accept this as patriotic pageantry tied to the 250th anniversary. Treasury officials have framed the change as a way to honor both the country and Trump. But that is exactly the problem. A democracy is not supposed to turn public institutions into personal trophies. The people’s money is not a branding exercise. It is not campaign merch. It is not a monument to a living president’s appetite for attention. If anyone deserves to be honored, it is the people of America, who built this country with their work, sacrifice, struggle, and dreams, not one man’s ego.
America has long understood the danger here. Federal law says “[o]nly the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency and securities,”3 a rule tied to the country’s effort to distance itself from monarchy. A signature is not the same as a portrait, but the democratic principle is the same. Our money is not supposed to become a shrine to a living ruler.
That is why this moment matters. Members of a bipartisan advisory committee objected to putting a sitting president on currency because it would “break with democratic norms” and “reek of subservience to royalty.”4 That is the warning in front of us. No free people should be trained to confuse patriotism with personal devotion.
And let’s say the quiet part out loud: when a president starts placing his mark on the people’s symbols, he is not just asking for recognition. Trump and his allies are testing how much public submission the country will tolerate. Today it is a signature. Yesterday it was proposals for presidential coinage. Tomorrow it becomes another demand that the country honor the leader instead of the Constitution, the public, and the rule of law. That is not strength. That is democratic erosion dressed up as tribute.
But this is where people power still matters. We do not have to accept the slow rewriting of public life around one man’s image, name, and ego. We can speak up. We can organize. We can remind Congress and Treasury that they answer to the people, not the other way around. Our currency belongs to the people. Our democracy belongs to the people. And the will of the people still matters.
Sign the petition here: Tell Treasury: Keep Trump Off Our Money
Send a letter: Tell Congress now: keep politics and personal branding off our money.
And after you sign, take the next step: head to the nearest No Kings event and stand with people across the country who are rising to defend democracy, reject authoritarianism, and remind this administration that power belongs to the people. Find your event here: No Kings events near you
Together, we can champion our rights, freedoms, and democracy, hold our leaders accountable to the people’s will, and inspire voters to make a meaningful difference.
Laurie Woodward Garcia (paid with hugs and kisses, not bought by special interests) Leader, People Power United
People Power United | In this community, we will always speak out against racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny, sexism, ageism, ableism, sizeism, elitism, transphobia, misogynoir, and bigotry!
This is our moment to rise, resist, and reclaim our rights, freedoms, rule of law, and democracy. Millions of Americans are already refusing to back down — in the streets, at the ballot box, and in their communities.
Every movement that was ever won started with people who refused to quit. We are those people.
The future is not lost. It is being built — by us, right now.
NO KINGS! NO KINGS! NO KINGS!
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WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE! PLEASE RELEASE THE EPSTEIN FILES AND READ THE NAMES OUT LOUD! PLEASE!
Believe me, if he could pull it off his picture would be on every bill, every denomination! He's a sick, needy, desperate little boy with a mean streak...