The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday released a preliminary design for a new $1 coin that would feature President Donald Trump in honor of the upcoming 250th anniversary of American independence in 2026.
According to images shared by U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach on X and later confirmed by the Treasury, the front of the draft coin depicts Trump in profile, with the word “liberty” engraved above his likeness and the years “1776–2026” inscribed below.
The reverse side of the proposed design shows Trump raising a clenched fist, surrounded by the phrase “fight, fight, fight” — a reference to the words he shouted moments after surviving an assassination attempt last year. Behind him, the American flag forms the backdrop.
“While a final $1 dollar coin design has not yet been selected to commemorate the United States’ semiquincentennial, this first draft reflects well the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles,” a Treasury spokesperson said in a statement.
Beach noted on X that additional details about the design would be shared once the government shutdown ends. The ongoing budget deadlock has temporarily paused several federal operations, including Treasury communications related to the semiquincentennial coin program.
Congress authorized the creation of commemorative $1 coins in 2020, allowing the Treasury Secretary to issue designs that “emblematize the U.S. semiquincentennial.”
The unveiling sparked immediate debate online, with critics pointing to a clause in the 2020 legislation that prohibits “any head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, and no portrait of a living person” on the reverse of coins commemorating the U.S. anniversary.
However, the Treasury’s draft depicts a full-figure image of Trump, a design choice that legal analysts said might technically avoid violating the “head and shoulders” restriction.
Another potential legal question stems from an 1866 statute barring portraits of living individuals on U.S. currency — a rule that applies to paper money printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, not to coins struck by the U.S. Mint.
Additionally, a separate provision in the 1792 Coinage Act, later amended by Congress, forbids using the likeness of a living current or past president on the presidential $1 coin series. But experts noted that this rule applies specifically to the presidential coin program, not to coins issued for national commemorations like the semiquincentennial.
The last time the U.S. marked a major anniversary was in 1976, when the Treasury held a nationwide design competition for the bicentennial dollar. The winning design — a Liberty Bell superimposed on the moon — was featured on one side, while the opposite side carried the image of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had passed away in 1969.
Asked whether President Trump had personally reviewed the new draft design, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, “I’m not sure if he’s seen it, but I’m sure he’ll love it.”
{Matzav.com}
