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We talked about the Great American Struggle Fair yesterday, Donald Trump’s sad sack festivities on the National Mall to mark our nation’s 250th birthday. And when I use words like “struggle” and “sad sack,” I’m not being mean but factual: the ice cream is melting, the ride (singular) is stalling, and performers are canceling over pretend weather to escape the embarrassment of playing to packed fields of grass leaves. And this whole thing is free! It’s like the mantra of Field of Dreams decided to give Trump the middle finger. I can get behind that. Still, it’s all very bittersweet for those of us who love our country. Many of you shared memories of marking America’s 200th, and I so enjoyed reading them! I wasn’t there myself, but one of my treasured possessions is a quilt that was made for the bicentennial, where each state is represented by a square embroidered with the state flower. I found it hidden in a big antique store many years ago and it keeps me warm in bed each night.
Well, Donny Dictator is also thinking about posterior posterity, and how he can slap his gruesome mug onto anything to do with the semiquincentennial. Personally, all I need is a video of him trying to say the word “semiquincentennial,” (acetaminophen, anyone?) but instead he’s rolling out commemorative passports. He first announced this vanity project in April, but the state department just released new details, including a different photo of Dear Leader than previously shown:
Donald Trump’s efforts to brand the US government with his name and image advanced on Friday when the White House unveiled new images of a passport watermarked with his portrait to mark America’s 250th anniversary.
The White House called it simply the “patriot passport”, while on Truth Social the president introduced it as “The U.S.A.’s New Passport, which says, ‘Welcome, but be good!’”
The state department says the limited-edition commemorative US passport was created “to commemorate the historic occasion of America’s 250th anniversary and will be issued at the Washington Passport Agency in Washington, DC starting on July 6, 2026, while supplies last”.
The state department said it would issue a commemorative passport in April, but the finished item features different artwork.
The previous headshot of the president, looking stern, had been replaced with a three-quarter-length portrait of him leaning over the Resolute desk with balled fists, taken by White House photographer Daniel Torok, with Trump looking sterner. The photo also hangs in the Smithsonian America’s Presidents exhibition.
Trump’s portrait is surrounded by text from the declaration of independence, with his signature and “United States of America” written underneath.
The facing page shows an image of the founders signing the declaration of independence that appears to be based on a painting by John Trumbull currently on display at the Yale University Art Gallery.
Beyond his gaze, at least one of Trump’s signature decorative flourishes appears on the passport — it comes with a “Freedom 250” gold flag on the back cover. Previously Trump’s signature was in gold, and “250” did not appear. Now his signature is in black and “250” is written in gold.
The plans for Trump coins and the passport have been criticized by Democrats.
…Gavin Newsom, the California governor, mocked the Trump passport plan when it was first mooted with a mock-up of a gold-hued driver’s license featuring his own face.
Another thing many of you mentioned in the comments yesterday was the brilliant renaming of Trump’s efforts to “Freedumb 250.” I feel that’s important to bring up now, because only a president as dumb as this one would come up with the message, “Welcome, but be good!” for US passports. PASSPORTS, which citizens use to travel out of the country, as opposed to VISAS which grant access into the country. Dumb, thy name is Don. And on that note, while Trump’s Truth Social post suggests he thinks these are the new regular passports, rest assured that they are limited edition and will only be issued in person at that one DC passport agency, not to anyone applying online, by mail, or at any other location. As for how limited is limited edition, Forbes cites 25-30,000. You know how this administration over promises and under delivers on, well, everything? I think the claim “while supplies last” is gonna come to bite them in the posterity posterior.
PS — The photo change assessment of “from stern to sterner” is excellent. As is that send-up Newsom did for a driver’s license honoring California’s 175th anniversary.
IN HONOR OF CALIFORNIA’S 175TH ANNIVERSARY, WE WILL BE ROLLING OUT A VERY SPECIAL DRIVER’S LICENSE FOR EVERY CALIFORNIAN THIS SUMMER! IT WILL FEATURE A HANDSOME, HIGH-QUALITY PHOTO OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM. MANY PEOPLE ARE SAYING IT’S THE BEST LICENSE EVER MADE IN THE HISTORY OF… pic.twitter.com/svCAc9oNkw
— Governor Newsom Press Office (@GovPressOffice) April 29, 2026
Lmao Dr. Oz and Dean Cain are on stage at Trump’s dumpster fire state fair talking about the "tons of people" there and then the camera does a 360 🤣💀 pic.twitter.com/8jRf0GiPSD
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) June 29, 2026
Glad to hear the details on this! I need to renew my passport soon and do not want his face on it
My passport is due for renewal early 2027. There is NO way I am going to pay for a passport with that CRIMINAL’S photo on it! NO WAY!
He’ll probably be dead by then, or so far gone with dementia Congress will FINALLY do something. Here’s hoping.
Yeah, my husband and I both need to renew soon, and when they first announced this, we thought it was going to be ALL passports. I’m lucky that I would’ve had the option of my Italian passport, but my husband would’ve been stuck with it. We don’t want any sort of likeness of this POS in our home!
Ciao Miranda. sto imparando la lingua.
I couldn’t believe they actually printed ‘Welcome, but be good!’ on there, so I had to go looking. It doesn’t say that, so far- but we’ve only seen some proposed art work.
So they can still print ‘Stay home!’ or ‘Don’t visit shithole countries!’
Leidy, “welcome, be good” is what Trump posted on Truth Social in his comments when he unveiled the new passport. Showing he has no clue how a passport actually works. But I don’t believe it was printed on the new passports, that’s just his own imbecilic comment.
I just had to renew my passport (mine was about to expire and my child lives outside the US – I don’t like being without one). The first thing I did when the new one arrived was check the details (was everything correct – name, DOB, etc.). The next thing I did was make sure the dump’s photo was not in there anywhere. It was not.
BTW – turnaround time for a standard renewal, not expedited, was 10 days from on-line submission to arrival in NY.
I had to get mine renewed in early January 2024, so got lucky there. And the turnaround time was <3 weeks and that was in the state of Washington. I was very pleased.
So happy for the folks needing to renew now & NOT having that a-hole's photo on their passports.
Thank tiny baby Jesus it’s not all passports, both of my kids need renewals and I do NOT WANT to have to look at that. Also, why does he think that face he makes looks tough? He just looks constipated. Hateful, stupid, and constipated.
I said the exact same thing – we just renewed my teens passport and he would have had that horrible, awful, no-good, very bad image on his passport for 10 years!
Add me to the list of needing a passport renewal and being so relieved that I won’t have to deal with that a-hole’s face on it! Whew!
Never been so happy to have had mine renewed last year..
I would be so embarrassed to have to travel with that passport. How much extra are they charging for that passport?
Exactly. And who will benefit from the extra cost?
I’m guessing trump. He shouldn’t of course, totally illegal, but still.
Trump posts racist AI slop portraying the Obamas as apes. Meanwhile, of all the photos they could’ve chosen for this dumbass passport, they picked the one where he appears to be walking on his knuckles and glowering like a pissed off, confused gorilla. Seriously, who keeps telling him that this pose looks tough or intimidating or whatever the hell he thinks it is? He looks ABSURD.
Where is his neck?!?!
“The man you’re about to see has no fucking neck.”
I love that Gavin wants us all to know he’s 6ft, 190lbs with Hazel eyes. Very … presidential?
Gavin may be problematic in myriad ways, but damn, he is a very handsome man.
I shook hands with John Edwards (pre scandal) one time and absolutely swooned. There’s something about these conventionally attractive men with gleaming smiles, great hair, and a bod for denim jeans. I know I’m being manipulated by media driven standards, but if that’s what it takes to end this nightmare, let’s work those veneers Gavin baby!
Haha, I’m actually surprised he didn’t insert himself among the founders.
The Freedumb 250 State Fair gonna be like the anti-Woodstock. Instead of people being psyched they were there, sharing stories with their friends years later, or wishing they’d been there, people who actually attended that thing on the Mall will someday deny they went and never mention it again.
(Except for the SM folks who went there to document how lame and empty it was)
Is this his latest hobby ? Putting his face on everything?
It’s an escalation of his previous hobbies, which were putting his name and tacky “gold” leaf all over everything. So glad to see the resources and time going to soothe the unsoothable ego of this spoiled moron.
I bet there were like 10x as many meetings to decide which constipated-looking “tough guy” picture of His Idiocy to use than there have been on any other subject, including the end to unnecessary hostilities with Iran. Good to know where his priorities lie again, some more, in case the Kennedy Center, Reflecting Pool, UFC fight, et al weren’t enough. And that was just this month!!
He is literally trying to rebrand the USA into Trumpland or something. Why are people pandering to his toddler like antics of writing his name on everything to claim ‘its mine, all mine’.
I truly don’t understand the capitulation.
I will admit to being curious about the reactions of people checking the passports of arrivals from the USA in foreign airports. The contortions as they try to remain professional and suppress bursting into laughter would be fun to watch.
I am the proud owner of a special passport commemorating the 200th anniversary of the US consular service and Benjamin Franklin. It’s really nice and not at all ridiculous like this Trump trash is.
Cool!
Last week I was buying an annual US Parks and Refuges Pass as a gift for a friend and went to the closest refuge HQ to buy it in person, because he/his minions have also slapped his dopey face on that US Federal Government pass too and my friend would refuse to use that version.
Argh! I just checked that website and it looks like the *only* option for a US Resident or US Military annual pass is one with orange idiot on it. Gross!
The lifetime passes, senior passes, access passes for those with disabilities and non-resident passes are non-desecrated. It was lucky my friend qualified for a senior pass, cause I would have had to choose a completely different gift if the only option was Turdface-ified.
Oh, man, yeah, I was beyond happy that my senior pass did not have his ugly mug on it.
I’ve decided I’m just going to pay full price every time I go until this is over and consider it my share of making up for all the money he is stealing from the National Park Service to pay for his vanity projects. Or wait- does that mean I am directly funding his vanity projects?? [sob]
Gavin Newsom is not Trump. I am voting for Newsom. I’d like the elections to be tomorrow for the sake of the future of the entire world.
The midterms are basically tomorrow and I suspect we’re about to see a lot of Newsom stumping in critical districts.
Luckily I don’t have to renew until 2028.
2030. And I hope people, even in DC, opt out of this mess, so the passports gather dust until he’s out of office and they are revoked.
“the embarrassment of playing to packed fields of grass leaves” is sending me. LOL I would have second-hand embarrassment for him, but he doesn’t even deserve that.
I renewed the summer after this dicktator was installed. I was worried about them halting passport issues. When I first heard about this clown being on passports, I got really upset because my daughter doesn’t have one yet (she’s very little). Relieved to hear it’s only issued at one DC office. My sincere wish is that he is long gone before my daughter understands who the president is.
No surprise that Trump’s never been to a fair. If he had then he’d know that American Fairs are supposed to be about Ferris wheels (ones that actually work) and other carnival rides, fried dough, cotton candy, farm animals etc. They’re supposed to be FUN–not this boring mess.
I’m glad individual cities will be celebrating the 250th in their own way because this shit in DC is NOT for us.
I’m glad I’m here in Boston where we kick off Harborfest tomorrow and have a fun fireworks celebration on the harbor Tuesday and our silly little ragtag parade (carry a little flag and join in!) Saturday morning from City Hall to King’s Chapel to Old South Meeting House to the Old State House for the reading of the Declaration to the Oration at Faneuil Hall (hope it’s someone powerful this year) to the USS Constitution firing shots at the forts out in the harbor to the Frederick Douglass’s reading to the Pops spectacular on the Esplanade with church bells and howitzers and fireworks. And then sailing right into Sail Boston next week.
Traffic cones for everyone!
Sounds like so much fun, LP! I miss Charlestown so, so much but we still go back frequently thankfully.
We are so excited about the tall ships. We’re supposed to meet up with some friends to kayak but we haven’t decided if we should paddle from our house to Deer Island for viewing or launch from Mystic Channel to Inner Harbor. I am so grateful to be celebrating the 250th in Boston. That orange fuckface can never take that away from us.
We haven’t decided on viewing location either. I’m leaning towards the top of the hill on Spectacle Island but that would involve getting out to Spectacle Island, so it might be Piers Park over in East Boston. The closer they come into the harbor, the more likely they’ll be pulling down the sails so they don’t crash into stuff so the farther out for viewing the better
Wow! That sounds fantastic!
All he had to do was not interfere in what was already being planned but he and his ginormous ego plus dementia decided to make it all about him. Then he adds the usual incompetents he surrounds himself with and there you go. My Mom has dementia, I can SEE it. I think he was experiencing symptoms from his first administration, he didn’t make a lot of sense then either, it’s just gotten worse.
Are the “tons of people” in the room with you right now, Dean Cain?
Those Trump passports are an abomination. Trump is an abomination.
I think it’s a typo, they meant “TENS of people”
Glad I don’t have to renew until 2029. Has anyone seen the giant gold eagle now attached to the White House? Trump says it was a “gift”. We are going to spend a lot of time “de-Trumping” DC after he’s gone aren’t we? Hopefully he’ll take all that “gold” shit with him back to Mar-A-Lardo. Le sigh.
If he doesn’t take it with him, I say we toss it all in a cauldron to melt down and dump it over his head, Game of Thrones style.
It’s probably all plastic because he’s tacky AND cheap.
Hey, melted plastic could be fun, too!
“We are going to spend a lot of time “de-Trumping” DC after he’s gone” – MsIam
If he hired the same caliber of contractor he used on the reflecting pool, it’ll all just peel off eventually.
According to that one new book that’s coming out, he’s literally walking around the White House and supergluing gold shit to the walls. And throwing his garbage on the floor. And insisting on a carpeted bathroom. Tacky AND disgusting.
Apparently, that gold eagle was just AI.
Thank god! More of Trump’s Nazi fetish I guess. Why would he put stuff like that out, just to fcuk with the people? We truly have a lunatic for Resident of the United States ( not president mind you)
The majority of MAGA has barely left the place the state they were born in much less gets on a plane to travel anywhere. They will lie though and say people lined up for it. I’m convinced that MAGA is one big delusion based mental illness. They are just straight lying about the crowds at the “State Fair”. Thousands of people! Sir, we see the Fives of people behind you.
Exactly, so did he forget that the vast majority of his supporters have an aversion to traveling??? Cuz that was always gonna be a logistical issue for him.
TBH in a lot of the photos I’ve seen the people in attendance don’t scream MAGA to me. Most of them look like normal people who are there out of morbid curiosity more than anything else.
What a pathetically embarrassing fiasco.
I would pay extra (only to Gavin Newsom) NOT to have Trump’s photo on my passport. Megalomaniac, anyone?
Did you hear the non-partisan talk about the candidate for governor of PA…Republican, how is that non-partisan… I suppose non-partisan is why the crowds have been gangbusters eh?
Also my new passport is non transit and I truly thought “am I going to be have to wait for this idiot to be out of office to renew?!”…. Thankfully not… I am free to roam…
He looks like a pit bull about to lunge. Is that the look he was going for? I’m asking.
How dare you. I know many sweet goofy pitbulls. I used to have one, they’re a lot smarter than him also. He could never, again. Don’t insult pitties again, how dare you. ( LOL)
Whew! I was so worried for people having to renew or get their passports under the Giant Orange but of course this administration can’t follow through on anything. Plus, I’m guessing trump gets a cut of the sales (because of course) and their Chinese manufacturer has to get theirs. And I bet you anything the first time anybody uses one of these there’s a glitch & the person is held at the airport for hours.
Love the Newsom sendup! And the rest of the internet (saw trumps CA DL, has Epstein on it).
Trump looks like he’s braced for a rectal exam. Hopefully by an ET alien with a probe. The narcissism is off the charts
So embarrassing. Ugh.
Mel, sorry for the pit bull slander. Not a fan, but to each her own. And BeanieBean, you nailed it! I believe everything you said will come true. Of course, Trump will make money off of American passports. What doesn’t he make money from in his official office? He sues federal agencies, TV stations, and hosts the UFC (he’s a stock holder) to make more money for himself. I think he may be the first (and hopefully last) president who profits personally from the presidency to the tune of millions and billions of dollars. Even Nixon was better than Trump and I hated Nixon.
I was going to say that his senility is probably so advanced that he doesn’t feel embarrassment anymore but it’s pretty clear that this guy has never known the concept of embarrassment.
A relative had to go to the dc office this past week because she needed an extension of her date ( a renewal) because the place she was traveling to required you to have a certain number of months before expiration in order to let you in. They could not get n appointment for two days and when they got there on day three were told many of the machines weren’t broken and the renewal passports were being printed one at a time. I’m beginning to suspect why.