To commemorate the 250th anniversary of the US’s independence, the treasury department is mulling production of a $1 coin displaying Donald Trump with a clenched first under an American flag and the words “fight, fight, fight”.
The words overtly reference what Trump said immediately after narrowly surviving an assassination attempt four months before he won a second presidency.
The US treasurer, Brandon Beach, effectively announced a draft design of the coin Friday on X, saying: “No fake news here. These drafts honoring America’s 250th birthday and [Trump] are real.”
The X post – which boosted another account commenting on the draft design – said Beach looked “forward to sharing more” after the end of the partial government shutdown that began after midnight Wednesday when Senate Democrats demanding concessions on healthcare and other spending priorities refused to provide the votes necessary to pass a Republican-backed funding bill.
As Politico pointed out, in 2020, at the end of his first presidency, Trump signed bipartisan legislation authorizing the treasury secretary to issue $1 coins during the calendar year 2026 that are “emblematic of the United States semiquincentennial”.
One side of the coin on whose draft design Beach commented on Friday showed Trump’s profile alongside “Liberty”, “In God we Trust”, and “1776-2026”.
The other side referenced the attempt on Trump’s life at a political rally in Pennsylvania last year, when authorities said a sniper injured Trump’s right ear, killed an audience member and wounded two others before being shot to death by the US Secret Service.
Trump raised his fist after the attack – one of two attempted assassinations for him as he successfully ran for a second Oval Office term in 2024 – and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” with an American flag looming nearby.
A statement from a treasury department spokesperson to Politico said the draft which Beach’s X post discussed was not the “final $1 coin design”. But the statement maintained that “this draft reflects well the enduring spirit of our country and democracy, even in the face of immense obstacles”.
Debate quickly erupted on social media about the proposed coin, given that the law specifically says “no head and shoulders portrait or bust of any person, living or dead, and no portrait of a living person may be included in the design on the reverse of any coin “created to mark the US anniversary”.
The proposed design features a wider illustration of Trump on the reverse side, a move that legal experts said would fall outside the ban on a “head and shoulders portrait or bust”.
An 1866 law prohibits any living person’s portrait from being used on US currency – but that refers to paper money produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Coins are minted by the US mint.
One provision of an earlier law on coinage, first passed in 1792 and amended repeatedly by Congress, prohibits depiction of a living current or former president. But that passage applies to $1 coins minted specifically to honor each of the US presidents – not issued for other reasons, such as the country’s 250th anniversary.
To mark the 1976 bicentennial celebrations, the treasury sponsored a national competition and picked for the $1 coin a design by a sculpture student featuring the Liberty Bell, a symbol of American independence, and the moon.
The coin’s other side showed Dwight D Eisenhower, who was president from 1953 to 1961. Eisenhower died in 1969 and became the first president to feature on a $1 coin in 1971.
The US Mint says its commemorative coin program has generated more than $500m in surcharges – revenue that supports funding for monuments, federal museums and historical sites.
Trump’s approval rating on average has plummeted to -9.5%, as his second administration has cut healthcare protections and nutrition assistance that benefits the poor – while also implementing tariffs that preceded a reported rise in consumer prices.
A poll of 3,445 US adults taken by Pew Research between 22 and 28 September showed 53% believed Trump had made the national economy worse. Only 24% believed that he has improved the economy, according to the poll’s finding.
Among other things, the Trump administration has also deployed US military troops into the streets of multiple cities, axed roughly half a billion dollars in funding for vaccines such as the ones that helped end the Covid pandemic, and struggled to contain a scandal over his past friendship with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Reuters contributed reporting
• This article was amended on 5 October 2025. An earlier version omitted the detail that an audience member was killed during the attempt on Donald Trump’s life in July 2024.
