Trump-branded commemorative passports will become available across the US

Washington: Americans outside the nation's capital will soon be able to get limited-edition U.S. passports that feature a picture of President Donald Trump and celebrate America’s 250th birthday, the State Department said Thursday. The department’s 27 passport agencies nationwide will start offering the special travel documents next month. They previously had only been available at the Washington, D.C., passport office for in-person applicants. Trump, whose stern portrait is emblazoned on an inside page, is the first living president featured in the travel document. The passports are the latest instance of Trump having his name and likeness added to buildings, documents and other highly visible tributes. His image is on a gold-finished commemorative coin celebrating the country’s founding that the U.S. Mint has begun producing, and there are efforts to put Trump’s signature on all new U.S. paper currency, also a first for a sitting president. "In response to overwhelming demand, the Department of State is making an additional 250,000 of the special commemorative passports available to the public,” it said in a statement. "Americans all across the country will now have the opportunity to apply for one of these additional special passports, known as the ‘Patriot Passport.’” Passport offices in Centennial, Colorado; Chicago; Dallas; Detroit; New Orleans; New York; and Stamford, Connecticut, will offer the Trump passports at one-day special events starting Aug. 8. The list will grow to include other passport offices throughout August. Those who want the special passport must apply in-person on the day specified on the department’s passport website. Those wanting a traditional passport must apply on different days. The commemorative passport features Trump’s picture over a gold imprimatur of his signature to an interior page, while the cover carries the words "United States of America” in bold gold print at the top and "Passport” at the bottom - a reversal of the current standard cover. In addition, a small gold laminate American flag, with the number 250 encircled by stars, is at the bottom of the back cover. The only presidents featured in current U.S. passports are in a double-page depiction of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Other depictions include the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and scenes of the Great Plains, mountains and islands. Current passports also contain quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower. The addition of Trump’s picture and signature to the passport book is the newest step his aides have taken to increase the president’s visibility, including adding his name to the U.S. Institute of Peace building and the Kennedy Center performing arts venue, although that signage was later removed on a court order. Trump also has made waves with his plans for a new White House ballroom and a massive arch to be built at one of the entrances to Washington from Virginia.