President Donald Trump has been on a rebranding spree of historic proportions since retaking the office for his second term, including renaming American institutions, U.S. currency, naval vessels, and now passports, in his honor.
The latest vanity project involves stamping his image on yet another piece of government property, ostensibly to commemorate the nationās 250th birthday, according to The Bulwark.
(Photos by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images; Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
The outlet reported the State Department is almost finished finalizing what will mark an unprecedented move of a sitting president putting his likeness on official U.S. travel documents.
The passports will feature a sullen Trump on the inside cover over the Declaration of Independence with his signature in gold, Newsweek reported. The agency plans to issue some 25,000 commemorative documents through the Washington Passport Agency, but customers can choose traditional documents instead.
āAs the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed U.S. passports to commemorate this historic occasion,ā the State Department told Newsweek. āThese passports will feature customized artwork and enhanced imagery while maintaining the same security features that make the U.S. passport the most secure document in the world.ā
CNN reported that the passport with Trumpās face on it āwill be the default passport out of the Washington Passport Agency when availableā for those renewing their documents in person. āOnline options or other locations will maintain existing passport design.ā
The passport redesign follows the National Park Serviceās new park passes stamped with Trumpās visage and the Treasury Departmentās contentious plan to create a $1 coin and a commemorative gold coin with Trumpās image, The Bulwark reported.
A social media backlash quickly erupted, with critics lambasting the State Departmentās latest indulgence of Trump as a narcissistic invention and self-serving creation.
āAnd the cult obsession continues,ā an X user observed. This angry X user wasnāt as pleasant, āThe f-cking vanity projects are never ending. We do not want our taxes spent on the BS.ā
Similar to dictators and authoritarian rulers, Trump began putting images of himself on buildings and official government documents, and even floated carving his likeness into Mount Rushmore at one point.
āIāve never seen a man so obsessed with plastering his own face and name onto literally everything,ā this X user observed.
And poster Kaizilla put it this way, āIt’s getting hella ridiculous for the USA.ā
The White House has hinted at a deeper reason for the Trump-face passport while responding to a critic who called a post promoting the design on X. User Michael Fernandez replied to the image with an AI-generated photo of a gold statue of Trump as a cow with members of his cabinet bowing down to him. The White House then responded with a DC Metro card with a photo of Obama, celebrating his inauguration.
Since retaking the officeĀ 15 months ago, Trump has renamed the Kennedy Center the Trump Kennedy Center. He renamed the Institute of Peace the Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace. Heās named a new āTrump classā battleship after himself. Heās stamped his picture alongside a drawing of George Washington on National Park passes.
The president has opened investment opportunities for babies born between 2025 and 2029, called Trump accounts, with $1,000 in seed money. Heās created Trump RX, a new pharmacy selling allegedly cheaper prescription drugs, and heās issued Trump gold cards that enable wealthy foreigners to essentially buy green cards for $5 million.
Heās also draped banners with pictures of himself from office buildings in Washington, including the Justice Department.
