The Trump gold coin is not normal

0:00Caroline Turco:If you walk around Washington, it can feel like you are running into President Trump every time you turn the corner. Looked up and there it said Donald J. Trump on the building. That was Trump last month at the newly renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. I had nothing to do with it. I swear I didn't. I swear I had no idea. He also claimed he was surprised when his name was added to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he is chairman of the Board of Trustees. Giant portraits of him hang from the headquarters of the Department of Labor and the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice.

0:36Caroline Turco:Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a professor of history, told NPR that what Trump is doing mirrors what autocrats have done for a century. The leader must be everywhere. His face must be everywhere. His name must be everywhere. And his aesthetic, his taste, must be reflected in buildings, in the people around him. Last week, a much smaller tribute to Trump made news. The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts voted to approve the design for a new commemorative coin. The obverse features a portrait of President Trump. Reverse consists of a bald eagle in mid-flight. Consider this. President Trump's likeness may soon be on a U.S.

1:21Caroline Turco:coin. It is another sharp break with American tradition.

1:29Caroline Turco:From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.

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3:06Caroline Turco:It's Consider This from NPR. There are presidents on our coins. Abraham Lincoln is on the penny. Thomas Jefferson on the nickel. Franklin D. Roosevelt on the dime. George Washington on the quarter. And now the Commission of Fine Arts has approved a design featuring a portrait of Donald Trump. Perhaps it's not surprising since the president fired all the commissioners last year and installed his own slate. Also unsurprising, the collectible coin will be made of 24-carat gold. To talk about where this coin fits in the history of U.S. currency and about the message it is sending, I spoke with Caroline Turco.

3:40Caroline Turco:She's a curator at the Money Museum, run by the American Numismatic Association. Welcome to All Things Considered. Thanks for having me. Let's start here. What's the best way to think about this? How unusual is it for a living U.S. president to appear on a coin? It would be unprecedented. It has happened once before in 1926 when Calvin Coolidge, celebrating the 150th anniversary of our independence, placed himself beside Washington. But at that time, it was not illegal. The legality of putting a living person on a coin did not occur until 1982. So if we're thinking about it in terms of an illegally minted coin, it would certainly be a first.

4:24Caroline Turco:So the Trump administration, I have to say, has argued that it's found legal loopholes to do this. But I think the broader point that you and many other experts have said is this just goes widely against 250 years of norms in this country. Absolutely. You know, when we first looked at coinage, 1792, when the U.S. Mint was first established, they went to George and said, we're ready for you. We need your portrait. You've got to be on our coins. And he said, to paraphrase, over my dead body. You know, he said, we just fought a war against monarchy. Why on earth would we replicate how monarchs put themselves on coins?

4:58Caroline Turco:For people who haven't seen this design, can you describe the coin and what you make of it just as a coin, the image they're presenting, what you think this is trying to say? You know, artistically, I think it's very strong. And I mean that both in terms of a design and in terms of the emotions it's presenting. But the obverse or the front of the coin features President Trump. And he is very aggressively standing before his desk with clenched fists. His very chiseled face is angry, I might argue. It certainly is a powerful image. It's an aggressive image. And it's head on. It's not the typical side view that you get.

5:40Yes, that is very unusual. But it certainly is a question of whether or not that's an intentional I'm looking directly at you sort of statement.

5:48Caroline Turco:And am I right that it's not just living presidents? There has been a precedent of don't put living people on the coin. It is. It is living people. Yes. It's just a very clear cut. Like we want a clear view of who this person is before we put them on a coin. That's the reason, generally speaking, for this law, right? It's kind of the reason. I think it's more about who has control of the narrative, because if you're putting an active political person on there, then they have control of that narrative. coins have been used as propaganda and as political messaging since the very beginning. And that's been a lot of the concern.

6:24Caroline Turco:But in 2026, you know, like so many people just don't come into contact with cash and coins these days. Is this of limited propaganda value, if that is a concern and partially part of the thinking? The majority of the American cash-based money that's used is used abroad. So domestically, I think you have something there that like the the it would be very limited. Also, if it's on a 24 karat gold commemorative coin, the average human being is not ever going to see this. Have you seen the price of gold recently? But internationally, our coinage and if we were to continue in this direction and end up putting presidents on circulating coins, that would become a significant messaging platform.

7:10Caroline Turco:Yeah, and it's worth noting there's this whole separate proposal for a one dollar coin with Trump's face. It's not clear when or whether that would be minted as well. But I want to go back to the start of this. This is a coin commemorating the 250th anniversary of the United States. If it were up to you, like what to you is a coin that best signifies the history of America? Which would you put forward at this moment? If it were up to me, it would have to be an image of Lady Liberty. We have used the concept of liberty, the allegory of liberty, since the very beginning of our coinage when we first made it in 1792.

7:46And we did that on purpose. We did that to avoid putting our leadership on coins. So liberty has represented our republic instead of rulers from the beginning. So that would be the most continuity, I think, that we could find in something for the 250th.

8:02Caroline Turco:That is Caroline Turco, a curator with the Money Museum in Colorado Springs. Thank you so much. You're so welcome. This episode was produced by Karen Zamora and Connor Donovan with audio engineering by Ted Meebane. It was edited by Patrick Jaron Wadanan. Our executive producer is Sammy Etigan.

8:22Caroline Turco:It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. This message comes from Angie. If you're tackling a home project, check out Angie.com. From roofing to remodels and everything in between, Angie connects you with skilled pros who do such a good job, you might trust them to do other things, like pull out your tooth or be your kid's godfather. Don't actually ask them to do those things. Just let them get the job done well. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your projects at Angie.com. That's A-N-G-I dot com. This message comes from Mint Mobile. If you're tired of spending hundreds on big wireless bills, bogus fees, and free perks, Mint Mobile is for you.

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