GOP Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he thinks it’s “a little silly” for the State Department to be putting President Donald Trump’s likeness on U.S. passports.
Asked about the plans to feature the president’s face and gilded signature on the inside cover of a limited run of passports commemorating America’s 250th birthday, he told CNN, “We laughed at Russia when they had pictures of Lenin and Stalin everywhere” during the Soviet era.
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Citing other communist countries, Bacon added, “Go to China, they had pictures of Mao everywhere. You go to North Korea, pictures of Kim Jong Un.”
“We’re America, and I think we do less of that,” the Republican continued, calling the move an “overreach” on the part of Trump “subordinates” trying to “cater to his attention.”
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The Bulwark was the first to report the redesign, which will be printed on 250,000 travel documents only available through in-person renewals at the Washington, D.C., passport agency.
According to a statement from the State Department, the special edition will include the “same security features that make the U.S. Passport the most secure [document] in the world.”
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales called the “new patriotic passport design” a “great way Americans can join in the spectacular celebrations for America’s 250th birthday” in a comment to The Hill.
Trump has been eager to leave his mark on as many things as possible during his second term in office. In addition to adding his name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, his administration has installed banners bearing his image outside of the buildings of the Departments of Labor, Justice and Agriculture.
In October, the Treasury Department shared a design for a new commemorative $1 coin that features an etching of the president raising his fist after a 2024 attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally.
