OPINION: Commemorating the president comes down to a coin flip

Published 7:30 am Saturday, July 25, 2026

President Donald Trump is infatuated with gold, from bathroom fixtures in the White House to gold coasters, ceilings, door frames and fireplace decorations in the Oval Office.

He is polishing up his Midas Touch at the public’s expense with plans for gaudy golden lions guarding a 250-foot-tall archway topped with golden eagles and garnished with a golden statue installed between the solemn Lincoln Memorial and the more than 400,000 graves at Arlington National Cemetery.

But his latest love of gold is nothing as large as an archway to tower over the nation’s capital. It’s a commemorative coin with the president’s face on the front. I’m surprised the artist could fit such a large ego on a one-inch coin.

Like all things with Trump it’s for show, says the U.S. Treasury Department, so it can get around federal law that bans a president’s face on real money. It’s commemorative money honoring the nation’s 250th birthday, says the department, which is kind of like saying it’s play money that is above the law.

It’s not even real gold, which would cost too much. The U.S. Mint is stamping out the coins into slugs comprised of cheaper base metals, like copper, nickel and zinc.

The coins will go on sale this fall, the department says, plenty of time for that person on your holiday gift list who doesn’t need another electronic gadget.

But before you start counting your quarters to buy the $1 coin, get out your checkbook or credit card: The coins will cost a lot more than a dollar.

The U.S. Mint sells its commemorative coins for a steep markup to face value, such as the uncirculated half-dollar coin commemorating the World Cup, now on sale on the website for $66.

The Treasury Department has not said how much the Trump coin will cost, or who will pocket the profit. The proceeds likely will be funneled to trumped-up expenses for the nation’s 250th birthday, which would be in line with the alleged purpose of the commemorative coin. Besides, after earning more than $2.2 billion from his businesses, investments and influence peddling last year, the profits on a $1 coin are chump change for the president.

It’s not about the money anyway, it’s about branding the country in his image. Trump has spent a lifetime putting his name on hotels, casinos, golf courses, vodka, a university, even an airline, and sees no reason not to do the same with his government.

You would have thought that it satisfied his presidential-size ego enough when he announced he was putting his picture on U.S. passports, when federal agencies started hanging three-story-tall banners of his face from their headquarter buildings in Washington, D.C., and when the National Park Service put Trump’s grumpy face next to George Washington on this year’s passes to parks and recreation areas. But I guess not.

The shiny coin will preserve the president’s image for generations. I just don’t understand why he didn’t design a coin with his face on both sides to serve as a reminder that in his world, heads he wins, tails everyone else loses.

Larry Persily is a longtime Alaska journalist, with breaks for federal, state and municipal public policy work in Alaska and Washington, D.C. He lives in Anchorage and is publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel weekly newspaper.