Democrats Want to Stop Trump From Putting His Face on a New $1 Coin

A 159-Year Tradition Hangs in Balance

The U.S. Treasury wants to mint a $1 coin featuring President Donald Trump for America’s 250th birthday next year.

Draft designs show his profile on one side and an image of him raising his fist after surviving an assassination attempt on the other.

Now Senate Democrats are pushing back with a bill called the Change Corruption Act, which would ban any living or sitting president from appearing on U.S. currency.

The bill has almost no chance of passing, but the fight reveals something deeper about how America thinks about its leaders and its money.

Treasury Releases Draft Designs in October

In October 2025, the Treasury Department confirmed it was considering a $1 coin featuring Trump on both sides to commemorate America’s semiquincentennial.

One side shows Trump’s head in profile above the words “In God We Trust” and the dates 1776 and 2026.

The other side shows Trump raising his fist, closely matching the pose he struck moments after surviving an assassination attempt at a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The words “Fight Fight Fight” appear around the edge.

Four Senators Introduce the Change Corruption Act

On December 9, 2025, Senators Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada introduced legislation to prevent Trump or any sitting or living former president from being featured on U.S. currency.

The bill is cosponsored by Democratic Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

The Change Corruption Act states simply: “No United States currency may feature the likeness of a living or sitting President.

Merkley Compares Trump to Kim Jong Un

“President Trump’s self-celebrating maneuvers are authoritarian actions worthy of dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, not the United States of America,” Merkley said in a statement.

Cortez Masto said that “while monarchs put their faces on coins, America has never had and never will have a king.”

Senator Wyden added that “while kings insist on immortalizing their image on shiny objects, real leaders care about focusing on the issues of today.”

A 2020 Law Made the Coin Possible

In 2020, Congress passed the Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act, a bipartisan measure signed by Trump during his first term.

The act allows the Treasury secretary to mint $1 coins “with designs emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial” during 2026.

That same law states that no portrait of a living person may appear on the reverse side of the coin. Trump’s profile appears on the front, not the reverse, which appears to work around the restriction.

Under Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

The Change Corruption Act runs just one single page with seven lines of text.

The bill would codify the long-standing tradition of not putting living presidents on American coins into law.

Merkley and Cortez Masto had previously led seven Senate Democrats in writing a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent asking him to reject the proposed Trump coin designs.

Republicans Control the Senate

The bill faces a slim chance of becoming law given the GOP majority in both chambers of Congress and Trump’s firm control over his party.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is unlikely to schedule the bill for a vote on the Senate floor anytime soon.

The Democrats behind the bill know this, but they want to put the issue on the record and draw public attention to what they see as a break from American democratic norms.

A Treasury Clerk Started It All in 1866

In 1866, Spencer M. Clark, then Superintendent of the National Currency Bureau, made a daring decision: to print his own face on U.S. currency.

Congress was outraged when the notes came out, and their immediate response was to pass a law forbidding any living person from appearing on federal currency.

On April 7, 1866, Congress passed the Thayer amendment, enshrining into law for the first time the rule that U.S. money can only feature deceased individuals.

Calvin Coolidge Was the Only Exception

Calvin Coolidge holds the distinction of being the only living president to appear on a United States coin.

The 1926 Sesquicentennial of American Independence Half Dollar was released to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

According to numismatic historians, Washington’s inclusion on the coin was a mistake since he wasn’t president of the Continental Congress in 1776, and Coolidge’s likeness violated the 1866 law, though it had been violated before.

The Coolidge Coin Flopped Hard

The 1926 Coolidge half-dollar was wildly unpopular.

Of the 1 million coins minted, nearly 860,000 were returned to the Mint and melted down, according to the American Numismatic Association.

Today the surviving coins are hard to locate in any quantity, and the low-mintage pieces have become collector’s items.

The failure of the Coolidge coin suggests Americans weren’t eager to carry their president’s face in their pockets, even 100 years ago.

New 2026 Coins Skip Trump Entirely

On December 11, 2025, the U.S. Mint unveiled designs for new dimes, quarters, and half-dollars for the semiquincentennial.

The designs commemorate America’s 250-year journey and will feature Lady Liberty with her hair blowing in revolutionary winds.

The quarter designs honor George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, and the Mayflower Compact, skipping previously considered themes like abolition and civil rights.

During the announcement, no Trump coin was unveiled.

The Mint Could Decide Any Day Now

A final decision on the $1 coin design could come as early as this week, according to Merkley’s office. As of December 11, the Mint’s list of contenders included three designs for the front side, all featuring Trump.

The controversial Trump dollar coin remains part of Treasury’s plan to mark America’s 250th birthday.

Whether Democrats can generate enough public pressure to change that remains to be seen, but the coin’s fate now rests with a Treasury Department that has shown no signs of backing down.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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