Outside the Beltway

Source: The US State Department

In Front of Our Noses: L’État, c’est moi 

Steven L. Taylor
13

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Source: The US State Department

Politico reports: State Department to release limited edition ‘America250’ passports with Trump’s face.

“As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed U.S. passports to commemorate this historic occasion,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement. He added that the passports will have “the same security features that make the U.S. Passport the most secure documents in the world.”

The new passports are expected to be released in July as part of the Trump administration’s America250 initiative that includes a UFC fight at the White House and a Grand Prix street race in Washington, D.C.

The Department of State reported this on Twitter earlier today:

This is not normal.

Let me repeat: this is not normal.

Sitting presidents in normal democracies do not plaster their name and likeness on official documents and buildings. They are not supposed to be symbols of the country.

Nor are they supposed to be avatars of a major national celebration.

Trump is branding the United States with his name and likeness. This is personalistic dictator stuff.

Thank goodness I already got my passport renewed about a month ago. Can you imagine being stuck with Trump’s face in your passport for a decade?

I am not even going to get into the Grand Prix and the UFC fight, but let’s just say neither screams “America’s 250th birthday.”

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13 responses to “In Front of Our Noses: L’État, c’est moi ”

  1. Slugger Avatar
    Slugger

    Shameless, truly shameless! A direct contradiction of the meaning of America.

    8
  2. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    It’s a great opportunity to lose, misplace, accidentally shred your passport, or forget to take it out of your pocket when you do the wash, or have it stolen.

    Now imagine you’re transgender. In addition to having the wrong gender marker on your passport, you also have to carry the picture of your oppressor.

    17
  3. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Kathy: That’s an excellent, and additionally infuriating, point.

    2
  4. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    The memes didn’t take long.

    1
  5. Michael Cain Avatar
    Michael Cain

    Limited edition. Presumably that means that I have to pay to get a “special” passport, but most of them will be vanilla.

    1
  6. Ken_L Avatar
    Ken_L

    Australian coins and some bank notes have always included an image of the head of state, namely the Queen or King of Australia. They’re not elected politicians so the practice doesn’t have any political implications. Any proposal to include the prime minister du jour would be extremely controversial.

    One of the many problematic aspects of the US constitution is that the head of the federal government represents one side of an antagonistic two-party system while the head of state is supposed to represent the entire nation, but they are one and the same person.

    2
  7. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    @Michael Cain:

    That would be to the good.

    @Ken_L:

    Problem in the Taco reign is he doesn’t propose. He just orders it done.

    3
  8. al Ameda Avatar
    al Ameda

    @Kathy:

    Now imagine you’re transgender. In addition to having the wrong gender marker on your passport, you also have to carry the picture of your oppressor.

    In a related matter …
    Caitlyn Jenner is now (suddenly and acutely) aware of the ‘gender marker’ problem she now has when she travels, and is (of course) asking the White House to help her out on this.

    5
  9. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Ken_L: Sure, the heads of states in constitutional monarchies (esp commonwealth countries) appear on such documents.

    But not, to my knowledge, presidential systems. Not any in Latin America, nor South Korea, nor hybrid cases like France. I am fairly sure counties with appointed heads of states, such as Germany and Israel, do not put their presidents’ faces on passports.

    The only other example that comes close of which I am aware was Assad in Syria.

    1
  10. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    So many issues.

    He added that the passports will have “the same security features that make the U.S. Passport the most secure documents in the world.”

    I have seen this written statement from Pigott a few times, but is a passport really a plural documents?

    State Department tweets featuring a UFC fighter and a Grand Prix car?

    The only bright spot is that these passports will be limited.

    2
  11. ptfe Avatar
    ptfe

    @Joe: And you didn’t even mention “sneak peak“, which sounds like the opposite of a “false peak” or something that leads to a plane crash.

    3
  12. Richard Gardner Avatar
    Richard Gardner

    Since getting this variety of Passport is a choice, it looks like a cause to get you pulled into secondary inspection entering Canada for the next 10 years (= you chose poorly).

    5
  13. Richard Gardner Avatar
    Richard Gardner

    There are a few more details. This is more like a “vanity” plate (cough) with 25-30K available only at the Washington Passport Office. https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/2026/04/29/how-to-get-passport-with-or-without-trumps-face/89852794007/?

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