Contrary to popular belief, Julius Caesar was not the first living leader to put his portrait on a coin. A couple of others beat him to it, including Persia’s Darius the Great. But the Roman emperor was the first to break with tradition and distribute them to ensure his subjects understood that he possessed absolute power and, not incidentally, controlled the empire’s money supply. It was a savvy move, copied by monarchs and dictators across the world ever since.
America has long followed suit, featuring the faces of our leaders on our currency, but with an important caveat: They had to be long out of power and in their graves. No monarchy or dictatorship for us; we were hostile to the idea of minting the portrait of a living leader for the very reason Caesar thought it was such a clever idea. Our Constitution meant to ensure that no one person in American life would ever have sole unlimited power.
In 1877, Congress even passed a law prohibiting it, which says that “only the portrait of deceased individuals may occur on the United States currency and securities.” Even coins that will be minted for the 250th anniversary of the nation have a special section in the code which states, “No coin issued under this subsection may bear the image of a living former or current President, or of any deceased former President during the 2-year period following the date of the death of that President.”
But that was before we had our own Orange Caesar, who believes he can rule by fiat, supported by Republicans in Congress, and then allow the Supreme Court to sort it out, usually in his favor.
On Oct. 3 it was reported that the Treasury has designed and prepared to mint a new $1 coin with President Donald Trump’s face in honor of the country’s 250th celebration in 2026. The founders would be so proud to know that we made it that far before we finally succumbed to tyranny.
The front of the coin will feature Trump in profile, with his trademark 1967 Las Vegas lounge act hairstyle delineated in fine detail. The back will depict the famous fist pump pose from his 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, along with the words “fight, fight, fight.”
When images of the new coin were shared on X, U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach replied, “No fake news here. These first drafts honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS are real. Looking forward to sharing more soon, once the obstructionist shutdown of the United States government is over.” In true Trumpist fashion, there is every reason to believe the administration will go ahead and mint the coins. By the time it’s litigated, the money will already be in circulation — and that will be that.
This is hardly the most important example from the lengthy list of Trump’s abuses of power. But symbols matter, and this one cuts to the very heart of who he is — and what he fancies himself to be. An emperor or king who rules not by the consent of the governed, but by divine right.
This is hardly the most important example from the lengthy list of Trump’s abuses of power. But symbols matter, and this one cuts to the very heart of who he is — and what he fancies himself to be. An emperor or king who rules not by the consent of the governed, but by divine right.
His princely ambitions are hardly new revelations; the signs are everywhere. Trump has decorated the White House to conjure his low-rent version of a European palace, complete with portraits of himself and gilded fixtures — that some intrepid internet sleuths suspect were sourced not from some continental antiques dealer but from the aisles of Home Depot. (As it turns out, there’s one just over three miles away from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.) Work has commenced on a $200 million, 90,000-square-foot ballroom, the first known new construction to expand the White House’s footprint since President Theodore Roosevelt had the West Wing added in 1902 and his successor, President William Howard Taft, doubled it in size. Trump has called himself “THE KING” on social media, and in February he even posted on X, “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
This much is clear: The president has no respect for the American anti-monarchical tradition and style, and he seems to lack any real understanding that it’s our fundamental reason for being.
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The real problem, of course, is that Trump is abusing his power in a manner that is tearing this country apart. His despotic dismissals of the rule of law, in ways both large and small, are creating what many in the GOP have long fantasized: An imperial presidency. This Trumpist fulfillment is largely enabled by a supine Republican Congress and a Supreme Court that is seemingly eager to codify it. He is using every back door, loophole and extreme interpretation of the law to expand executive power and smother the system of checks and balances. And it’s working.
Federal troops are wreaking havoc in the streets, people are being abducted and sent to prison camps — or disappeared entirely — and the military is executing orders to murder foreign civilians on the high seas. The administration is slashing vital services, firing thousands of federal workers and using the power of the state to intimidate and blackmail private institutions from universities to law firms to corporations, and otherwise running roughshod over every aspect of American society. The world economy is dizzy from Trump’s incoherent tariff scheme, while at home he has seized the power of the purse from the Congress to spend the country’s money any way he chooses. He may even succeed in controlling the money supply and the economy if the Supreme Court signs off on it (and if he decides to abide by their decision). So far, little has stopped his quest for possessing the unfettered power of an anointed king.
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The recent state visit to the U.K. where Trump and his entourage once again behaved like crass tourists, actually exposed the plight of the real modern monarch. At the behest of the government seeking to appease the president’s need for flattery, the British royal family was forced to pretend they were happy to host yet another over-the-top extravaganza for a man who bragged he could have succeeded in seducing Prince William’s mother Diana before her death in 1997. On this visit — having taken the measure of the man in the past and realizing his need for the imperial treatment — they deployed the famed Irish and Scottish state coaches to treat Trump to a carriage procession through the grounds of Windsor Castle.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla didn’t do this because they wanted to. (Trump’s anti-climate change agenda is anathema to the famously green king, who reportedly raised the issue with the president both in private and during his remarks at the state banquet. Nevertheless, Charles apparently played “a critical role” in Trump’s shift in favor of Ukraine in its war with Russia, which he announced a few days after returning from the U.K.) The royals were used by the British government as props to curry favor with the man who has an unquenchable thirst for boot-licking from famous, wealthy people. That’s one of their jobs in 2025.
British currency still has the king’s face on it. But over there, long after successive monarchs surrendered their absolute power, it has come to represent tradition, national unity and stability. Over here, it means a return to the tyranny we once fought against. In a way, after 250 years, perhaps they won the war after all.
