Washington (United States) (AFP) – An image of Donald Trump will soon appear in some US passports, officials said Tuesday, shattering another norm as the president aggressively puts his personal stamp on government institutions.
There are few precedents anywhere in the world, let alone in a democracy, of displaying sitting leaders' pictures in passports, and Trump would be the first sitting US president featured in Americans' travel documents.
The State Department said it would offer the limited-edition passport to mark this year's 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence.
The department -- which has historically viewed itself as outside US partisan politics -- posted on social media a sample of the passport, which features a stern-looking Trump superimposed over the Declaration of July 4, 1776.
Trump's signature -- in gold -- lies underneath.
A second limited-edition passport showed a historic painting of the US Founding Fathers.
"As the United States celebrates America's 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed US passports to commemorate this historic occasion," State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
Another department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Trump-themed passports would only be available at in-person appointments in Washington "for as long as there is availability."
The passports would come at no additional cost, the official said.
It was not immediately clear if passport applicants could refuse the Trump picture, although the majority of Americans seeking passports do so through local post offices, which would not provide the special edition.
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As someone not from us: how is all the shit he does possible? What about all those checks and balances you guys were so proud of? It looks like in half a year he'll get a horse in Congress.
Real answer: The checks & balances worked to a point, but trump is the culmination of decades of effort to dismantle and circumvent just about every regulatory safeguard the US had. And most of the really absurd stuff he does is illegal but he just isn't prosecuted for it.
Laws that aren’t enforced are just suggestions. Kinda like speeding or tailgating in Austin, TX.
Extremely dirty politics, but with a historic new power twist. He is using "yes men" to make loopholes into existing laws to break or neuter entire chunks of laws. He does his whims until it gets taken to court. Checks and balances are still there, except it's now 100% clogged and backlogged. And to worsen it, dirty lawyers and favorable judges keep overturning and overturning court outcomes.
I am now expecting horses.
Americans are stupid as fuck and get taken advantage of accordingly.
Americans have done an insufficient job of making fascists afraid. Fascists do what they want. The rest of the country whines online, does a parade, and then accepts it as the new normal.
Americans are fucking cowards.
It's possible because 50 years of the class war being waged against the working and middle class has effectively gutted any chance for upward mobility and the blame is on the educated and education in general.
Stupid people can be easily manipulated to allow any lawnessless to flourish - esp. from those at the top - as long as they aim it at the "educated" and "elite" rich.
It's best expressed by what President Lyndon Johnson said: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best black man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him someone to look down on and he'll open his pocket for you.."
..and that is EXACTLY what MAGA has done and they're too stupid and "poorly educated" to understand that the hardship they're going through now is of their own making.
But by God, they certainly stuck it to the "libs," didn't they?
Goes hand in hand with the people like Alex Jones and the others who now oppose Trump's agenda when they initially supported it and Trump's reaction was to call them stupid.. which they were, because years ago, he famously said "Smart people don't like me.." and that WAS the truth.
The thing about Trump is he's NEVER hid the kind of self-serving prick of a person he is. People always just laughed it off saying it was all a self-deprecating joke.. but it is not.
50 years of the rich gutting public education every step of the way and 35 years of corporate propaganda on cable TV has gotten us here.
This IS how empires rot. From within.