US Treasurer tells Americans to spend Trump dollar coins at liberal coffee shops
Mint charges $61 for a $25 roll of the 250th-anniversary coins, first living president on US currency since Coolidge in 1926
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File photo: Trump holds up a presidential challenge coin as he speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, January 14, 2026.
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File photo: A person holds the 2026 Semiquincentennial President Donald J. Trump $1 coins in Washington, D.C., on September 3, 2026.
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At a listed price of $61, a roll of 25 Trump dollar coins costs $36 more than the coins will buy. US Treasurer Brandon Beach, in a TikTok video posted by the Treasury, wants Americans to buy the rolls, spend them at "your favorite liberal coffee shop," pay for a cup of coffee and "watch their heads explode."
The coins went on sale through the US Mint in September to mark the country's 250th anniversary. One side carries the president's portrait beneath the word "LIBERTY," beside the national motto "In God We Trust," with the years "1776 ~ 2026" below; the other carries the Presidential Seal, an eagle holding a bundle of arrows and an olive branch, marked "250." The gold finish is cosmetic: the Mint lists the composition as 88.5 percent copper, 6 percent zinc, 3.5 percent manganese and 2 percent nickel.
Title 31 of the US Code states that only the portrait of a deceased individual may appear on United States currency. The coin exists thanks to a design clause in the anniversary legislation — and it is the first time in a century that a living president has appeared on a US coin. The last was Calvin Coolidge, on a half-dollar marking the 150th anniversary in 1926.
Beach, a Trump-appointed treasurer and former Georgia state lawmaker, told viewers: "They will not like it, but I love it. And I love this president, and I love this coin." The coins are currently unavailable on the Mint's website, with Beach saying they will be in banks next month. TikTok commenters reported difficulty getting the first batch and doubt that their banks will stock them.
The Mint notes that the coins "have circulating finishes but have never been placed into circulation," though they remain usable as legal tender. The initial release carried product limits of 150,000 rolls and 50,000 bags; a 100-coin bag costs $154.50, or $54.50 above face value. Exactly 250,000 coins struck on July 4 at the Philadelphia Mint carry a special privy mark, mixed at random into official rolls and bags.
The coffee shop paid with a full roll ends up holding $25 in coins. The Mint keeps the other $36.