State Department to Expand Sale of Controversial Trump-Themed Passports Nationwide
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The U.S. State Department will begin distributing limited-edition passports glorifying President Donald Trump at 27 passport agencies across the country, further normalizing the cult of personality around a divisive figure.
In a move that raises concerns about the politicization of government institutions, the State Department announced it will make limited-edition passports featuring a portrait of President Donald Trump available at 27 passport agencies nationwide beginning next month. Previously, these controversial documents were restricted to the Washington, D.C., office, but now one-day events at locations such as Centennial, Colorado; Chicago; Dallas; Detroit; New Orleans; New York; and Stamford, Connecticut, will distribute these passports, with more sites expected to follow.
Applicants are required to appear in person on the designated day listed on the department’s website, while standard passport applications will be processed on separate days. The so-called “patriot passport” is described by the department as a commemorative item, but it features Trump’s image and a gold-laminated imprint of his signature on an interior page, with a gold-print cover, a small gold flag, and the number 250 encircled by stars on the back cover—symbols that critics argue further fuel the dangerous personality cult surrounding Trump.
Trump is the first living president to appear on a U.S. passport, a break from tradition that previously honored historic figures like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln as part of a Mount Rushmore illustration, alongside symbols such as the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and Independence Hall, and quotations from historic figures. This shift signals a troubling embrace of partisan iconography in official documents.
The State Department plans to produce more than 250,000 of these limited-edition passports nationwide, a move that many see as a disturbing step toward normalizing the glorification of a president whose tenure was marked by division and controversy.