Coming to a bill in your wallet.
Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Until now, it’s been easy to ignore Donald Trump’s very predictable quest to get his face onto U.S. currency. There’s a new 24-karat gold commemorative coin featuring Trump leaning over a desk menacingly? I’m not a collector, so this doesn’t really impact me. Trump’s trying to get his face on a separate $1 coin that will go into circulation? Not great, but how often do you really come across a Sacagawea dollar?
However, Trump is about to force his way into every Americans’ wallet. Vanity Fair reported on Thursday that the Treasury Department plans to add Trump’s signature to all new U.S. paper currency:
Trump’s autograph will be added to all denominations of US bills, Vanity Fair has learned. The process of developing new printing plates is underway, I’m told, and the new bills will go into circulation in the coming months. The measure is not temporary: Trump’s name will appear on bills until a future administration decides to take it off.
Bills usually feature the signature of the Treasury secretary and the U.S. treasurer. But the administration is removing the name of the current treasurer, Brandon Beach, so Trump’s autograph can appear next to Scott Bessent’s.
Why is this happening? We already know the real answer: Trump is a megalomaniac who loves putting his name on things. And the official explanation barely attempts to hide the “dear leader” vibes. Beach said Trump deserves to have his name on all U.S. paper money because he’s led us into a “golden age [of] economic revival.”
“As the 250th anniversary of our great nation approaches, American currency will continue to stand as a symbol of prosperity, strength, and the unshakable spirit of the American people under President Trump’s leadership,” Beach said in a statement to Vanity Fair. “The president’s mark on history as the architect of America’s golden age economic revival is undeniable. Printing his signature on the American currency is not only appropriate, but also well deserved.”
In related news:
And the New York Times reported today that the Iran war “is likely to boost your grocery bill.” The price of raspberries, for example, has already skyrocketed this year:
Raspberries were already expensive, but the wholesale price of fresh berries has doubled since January, according to federal Agricultural Marketing Service reports. At a Whole Foods Market in Atlanta on Tuesday, a six-ounce plastic container of organic raspberries cost nearly $8. That’s about 20 cents a berry.
And while the Department of Agriculture predicted pre–Iran war that food would only be moderately more expensive this year compared to 2025, that’s no longer the case:
Prices of perishable produce and many kitchen staples are expected to increase more than 6 percent, according to government and industry forecasts. Bread and cereal could jump 10 percent. Ground beef could rise 7 or 8 percent by June, with premium blends topping $9 a pound.
Soon, we’ll all be pondering what the president really “deserves” while we’re handing over 14 crisp Trump-branded dollar bills to buy a tiny package of berries.
