TRUMP DEMANDS HIS IMAGE ON $250 US CURRENCY

Trump wants new $250 bill to feature his Fulton County Jail mugshot 

President’s supporters try to change law so he can feature on banknote marking America’s 250th birthday

(In a way, I think it would be fitting to have Trump, the only convicted felon and adjudicated sexual assaulter/rapist POTUS, put his mug shot on the US currency to document for posterity that 30% of the American population decided that a corrupt human being and criminal is what they worshipped and chose to represent America!)

Trump's insatiable lust for self-aggrandizement and for breaking laws is epic.

Federal law allows only deceased people to appear on currency.

Trump administration officials have pressed the office responsible for printing the nation’s money to design a $250 bill featuring the president’s portrait, according to four current and former employees, in what would be the first appearance of a living person on U.S. currency in more than 150 years.

Starting last year, two political appointees at the Treasury Department — U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach and his senior adviser, Mike Brown — repeatedly urged staff at the agency’s Bureau of Engraving and Printing to prepare prototypes of the note, according to the employees, who said the move raised concerns because federal law currently allows only deceased people to appear on bills.

As part of the effort, Beach in August and September provided bureau staff with mock-up designs for the note, including one that shows President Donald Trump’s face in the center of the $250 bill between the signatures of the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, according to one of the employees and records reviewed by The Washington Post.

The artist who said he designed the mock-up told The Post that he had spoken with Trump about it.

From AI:

Donald Trump would be breaking the law if he placed his image on a $250 bill as it is currently designed.

The specific legal hurdles to this proposal include: The Living Person Ban: Federal law (Title 31, Section 5114 of the U.S. Code) explicitly states that only the portraits of deceased individuals may appear on U.S. currency and securities. 

This ban has been in place since 1866.

Lack of Authorization: A $250 bill is not currently recognized as a valid, statutorily authorized denomination of U.S. currency.

What needs to happen to make it legal?

For a $250 bill featuring President Trump to become a reality, Congress would need to pass specific legislation. This would require a brand-new law that both authorizes the $250 denomination and creates a specific legal exception for living presidents.

The idea of a $250 bill featuring Trump has been pushed by some administration officials and introduced in Congress via the proposed “Donald J. Trump $250 Bill Act,” but the legislation has not yet passed.

From The Other 98%:

The Treasury just pushed out the director of the currency printing bureau because she refused to put Trump's face on American money before Congress even passed a law allowing it.

Patricia Solimene, a 24-year Army veteran and the bureau's first female director, resisted pressure from Trump appointees Brandon Beach and his aide Mike Brown to fast-track designs for a $250 bill bearing the president's portrait. She was reassigned against her will. Brown now effectively runs the bureau. 

A career public servant who said "follow the law" got removed. The people who wanted to break it stayed.

The administration has been pressing the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to design the $250 note since at least last year, in what would be the first time a living person appeared on U.S. currency in over 150 years. 

That ban traces back to 1866, when Congress passed a law explicitly barring any living person from appearing on American currency after a Treasury official put his own face on a five-cent note. The Founders themselves rejected the practice as monarchical. 

And Trump isn't stopping at the bill. His signature already appears on all newly printed money. His face hangs on a banner over the Justice Department. The Kennedy Center bears his name. So does the U.S. Institute of Peace. There's a commemorative passport, a coin, a National Parks pass. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries put it plainly: "Hard No on a Trump $250 bill. Get over yourself. The upcoming July 4th anniversary is not about a wannabe King." 

The Founders went to war over a king who taxed them without consent. We now have a president plastering his face on the institutions those Founders built, and firing the people who say no.

Some things don't need a monarchy to look exactly like one.