For generations, the U.S. passport represented the nation rather than any one leader, but that line is now being crossed.
Trump “Patriotic Passport” Will Feature President’s Portrait Inside
The U.S. State Department is preparing a limited release of commemorative passports tied to America’s 250th birthday, and they will feature a portrait of President Donald Trump inside the passport booklet.
Trump’s image will appear on an interior page alongside other artwork, including the Declaration of Independence and the American flag. His signature will also appear in gold.
These special-edition passports are expected to be available only at the Washington, DC Passport Agency in limited quantities (up to 30,000), with standard passport designs continuing to be issued elsewhere.
Since 2021, U.S. passports have highlighted landmarks, national symbols, historical scenes, and broader civic themes and never has the passport featured an image of a sitting president. But we are in a different era now:
How To Get One Or Avoid One
If you want one, you’ll need an “emergency” passport appointment (travel within two weeks) at the passport agency in the District of Columbia (600 19th St NW). If you do not want one, just renew online or using another passport acceptance facility. However, we are still waiting for more details on this.
My Take
Some people will love this and view it as a patriotic collector’s item. Others will see it as needless personalization of a government document that should remain politically neutral.
Count me in the latter camp, whether it was Clinton, Bush, Obama, Biden, or Trump on the passport. Only a narcissist would want this…enough said.
And the idea that “Obama did too” is so stupid considering he did not control WMATA (Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority) before (or after) he came into office…and a Metro card is hardly the same thing as a U.S. passport.
And WMATA also made one for Trump…
Even North Korea does not feature Kim Jong-un in their passports…
CONCLUSION
The new Trump-themed passport will certainly generate controversy (if only the point of this was to troll…) and shatter another norm. But passports should symbolize the United States, the most important thing being a country that is greater than its leader and in which its great example to the world is (was?) the smooth transition of power every 4-8 years.
The U.S. passport also has “patriotic” quotes in it. Maybe this one from Thomas Jefferson should be added:
“The time to guard against corruption and tyranny, is before they shall have gotten hold on us.”
Actually North Korean passports do indeed feature the image of “Eternal President” Kim Il Sung (not sure about the current design but definitely so in the 2010s) on some of the inside pages.
Yeah, North Korea is a wild place. I think Marx and Lenin would have been appalled by a dynastic monarchy ruling over people no matter how communist their ideology. But NK is a personality cult.
@SeanM, right, but not the current leader of DPRK. US passport also features former presidents in Mt. Rushmore graphic.
@Matthew – Kim Il Sung is forever the current leader of the DPRK. You get an “F” in Juche.
I wonder if his golf game is still as good as his son’s?
Now that’s A-Hole in one.
LOL.
When I first heard about this, I thought it was going to be a nationwide thing for passports issued for the remainder of the year. Makes much more sense to make this a limited thing that only people who really need or want can get. But of course it shouldn’t be done at all. What I wonder is how much billable time is being spent on lawsuits trying to stop this. He won. He won twice. He’ll be back to overseeing his companies in 2.5 years and we’ll then see who we get next. I did check our passport expiration dates to make sure we would not need a new one during this time frame (just in case). I don’t hate the guy or anything; but I don’t want a cavity search if I encounter a very far left agent at passport control in some other country. Keep it simple: Country, Name, Personal Identifiers, Photograph, and expiration date in a secure document. No political message other than the Stars and Stripes.
“I don’t want a cavity search if I encounter a very far left agent at passport control in some other country”
What a silly thing to say.
There’s been no information whether Trump pushed for the idea or if it is a State Department move to male him happy.
Does he not know that some border control people will stamp trump’s head????
If he had any integrity, he would have vetoed the idea.
He doesn’t mind someone stamping his head or didn’t think of it.
By contrast, in 1975, Gerald Ford vetoed a building naming a random federal office building in his hometown after him …
Would have been been better to put his face on toilet paper.
That’s already available, as are Trump toilet brushes with bright orange bristles.
When your flight is hijacked or seized by terrorists, the first people they line up and shoot will be those carrying this abomination.
As well they should.
How far our country has fallen. Such an embarrassment. Banners hanging from the DOJ building, gaudy gold crap all over the white house walls, the Epstein ballroom – I could go on.
Such a disappointment…..
Matthew, the Metrocard thing is a red herring anyway because it’s been done for every Presidential inauguration INCLUDING Trump,
A good point, VT!
https://www.wmata.com/about/news/2017-Inaugural-Sleeve.cfm
I understand that anybody who wants this doesn’t travel very much and if they do, they’re only going to Mexico, DR, and Europe, but the concept of a special edition passport is odd. While it is biometric, there are plenty of land borders that remain unsophisticated, and the officer still basically has to judge the legitimacy of your document. Uniformity in each edition of a passport seems reasonable to me. This isn’t fake, but it’s certainly going to look fake to some people.
Could the man be stopped from using the word patriotic? Patriot and trump parted ways years ago.
Cotton candy patriotism – tastes good for a second but there’s really nothing there. Real patriotism requires sacrifice, or at least a willingness to sacrifice.
Guarantee your refusal of entry by a pissed off US hating border guard! Hand him your passport with a picture of Trump. Uh, no thank you.
I think there’s a strong arguement to be made that those who love the US dislike what Trump stands for and would hate the concept of this passport.
The man’s terrified of his own mortality, of being forgotten. But it’s inevitable. Mature people come to terms with it. He can put his peacocking visage on everything in sight, but those will come down some day and history will not remember him as the strongman he believes himself to be, but as the insecure and pampered elitist who surrounded himself with groveling yes-men and gilded finery at the nation’s expense.
He looks 20 years younger in the artwork.
Oh. I thought that was his mug shot
Ironically, I think it is.
Don’t worry, Biden will do the same when he is reelected in 2028. He is a better choice than the rest of the liberal field and there is a movement to get him to run again.
Weekend at Bidens 3 is a sure fire hit!
Poor ol’ Joe has lost his marbles. Let’s be serious.
Matt, if people like Kyle were going to be serious they would have to face the reality that they gave up their conservative or Libertarian principles to throw in with authoritarians.
Not gonna happen, so we get cute little Biden Dementia 2028 comments to deflect.
The two are unrelated, but I agree.
Every so-called conservative and every Christian should be ashamed they voted for Agent Orange, in my book. There’s nothing conservative and nothing Christian about him. He’s a statist, authoritarian dotard and guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. He is unfit for office and I hope he will one day face justice for all his political and moral transgressions.
That doesn’t mean Biden, who ruined it for Dems in 2024, should even consider another run, especially considering his worsening dementia.
I offer no defense of Biden, he and his circle screwed the 2024 election. There’s no evidence he plans to run again.
“There’s nothing conservative and nothing Christian about him”
That’s my point. Yet the majority identifying as conservative and Christian support him and twist their morals and principles into pretzels to justify it. Hi Kyle Prescott!
I don’t understand it. The cognitive dissonance must be deafening.
Because Trump is going after everyone they dislike…racial minorities, queer people, immigrants, non-trad wives women…
Custom Offices around the world outside of USA already responsed to this Trump passport:
“… Anyone holding this passport will be subject to interrogations, extend questioning, detail background checks, social media accounts examinations, email accounts investigations, and likely to be denied entry to our democratic country…”
What a need keepsake!!!
Mike F you are RUDE and RUDE.. This post is bringing out all of the TDSers
“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead”
-Donald J. Trump, March 21, 2026
But sure, “dee”, the TDSers are the rude ones. Do be sure to get your Loyalty to the Cult edition keepsake (LOL) passport. I hear theyre limited.
Yet another embarrassment from a President that has taken embarrassment to a whole new level.
i like the idea of limited edition passports
tired of the same old stuff