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An Anonymous Coward writes:

The $1 Trump coin: legal tender, depending on what you mean by legal [theguardian.com]

Various laws and 250 years of tradition prevent the likeness of living people from appearing on currency. Donald Trump and Scott Bessent don’t want you to worry about that

Can't wait to see the creative defacers of TikTok get to work!

Two hallmarks of Donald Trump’s second-term: the president’s enthusiasm for putting his name and face on things, and his cavalier approach to established law.

Today the president is once again combining both those interests, as the government releases a $1 coin bearing his image, an item of currency that scholars say should be illegal, but which is happening anyway. How many times have you heard that in the last 18 months?

The US has had a long tradition of not putting living people on US currencybeginning in the late 1700s when the US Mint, which manufactures and distributes currency, wanted to put an image of George Washington on US money. Washington declined, saying it would be too much like a monarchy putting its rulers on money. In 1866, Congress passed an amendment barring the “portrait or likeness” of living people from appearing on currency.

That doesn’t appear to have bothered Trump. His scowling face dominates the new $1 coin, which is legal tender, and looks gold but is actually made from zinc, manganese, nickel and copper. It costs $61 to buy 25 one-dollar coins – you do the math – and about 9m of the coins are being made. They will, according to the US Mint, “honor 250 years of great American heritage”.

That all sounds great, if you’re into that sort of thing, but what about the law?.

The upshot:

The judge noted, however, that his ruling did not determine whether the coin is illegal or legal.

And so today, Americans will be able to honor 250 years of great American heritage by buying a questionably legal one-dollar coin for roughly $2.44. If you’d like to know who came up with such a brilliant plan, just look at the coin.

Jesus said, render unto Trump what is Trump's, so I guess we'll still have to pay taxes.

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