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 nation’s 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.
“As 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,” the State Department told Newsweek. “These 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.”
CNN reported that the passport with Trump’s face on it “will be the default passport out of the Washington Passport Agency when available” for those renewing their documents in person. “Online options or other locations will maintain existing passport design.”
The passport redesign follows the National Park Service’s new park passes stamped with Trump’s visage and the Treasury Department’s contentious plan to create a $1 coin and a commemorative gold coin with Trump’s image, The Bulwark reported.
A social media backlash quickly erupted, with critics lambasting the State Department’s latest indulgence of Trump as a narcissistic invention and self-serving creation.
“And the cult obsession continues,” an X user observed. This angry X user wasn’t as pleasant, “The f-cking vanity projects are never ending. We do not want our taxes spent on the BS.”
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.
“I’ve never seen a man so obsessed with plastering his own face and name onto literally everything,” this X user observed.
And poster Kaizilla put it this way, “It’s getting hella ridiculous for the USA.”
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 office 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. He’s named a new “Trump class” battleship after himself. He’s 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. He’s created Trump RX, a new pharmacy selling allegedly cheaper prescription drugs, and he’s issued Trump gold cards that enable wealthy foreigners to essentially buy green cards for $5 million.
He’s also draped banners with pictures of himself from office buildings in Washington, including the Justice Department.
