To the editor: The report regarding the limited-edition passport to mark America’s 250th anniversary is revealing (“U.S. will issue commemorative passports with Trump’s picture for America’s 250th birthday,” April 29). With our country $39 trillion in debt, one wonders if this is truly the best priority. Is this really necessary? Can the president — who once ran casinos into bankruptcy — sink any lower?
The branding featuring his name and face is relentless: first a “meme coin,” then his name on the Kennedy Center and multiple federal buildings. His signature — those sharp peaks like Manhattan skyscrapers in heavy black marker — is even destined for our currency. And now, our passports. Really?
Are we still a republic? Can we still say, “We the People”? Soon, Americans may be walking the globe with this document in hand. I find this deeply concerning; it is a warning we can no longer ignore.
Our country is drifting from the Founding Founders’ vision. To be an American means standing against this erosion of democratic symbolism — an unfolding vanity that threatens our traditions not only globally, but in our very souls.
Dimitris Eleas, Brooklyn, N.Y.
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To the editor: My father-in-law would say that President Trump has never met a mirror that he didn’t like. Much like the pharaohs of Egypt, Trump’s ego requires that he build tributes to himself so that he has his place in history.
But even without his ballroom, arch, gold coins and portrait on limited-edition passports, he will always be remembered. How can we ever forget the chaos he has created in our nation and in the world with his tariffs and his $25-billion (so far) war of choice with Iran?
So much for eliminating “waste, fraud and abuse.”
Joseph Garcia, Yorba Linda
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To the editor: My passport is due to expire in two years. I intend to update it ASAP. At my age, I probably have 10-15 years of travel left, and the last thing I want to do is carry around a document with a picture of the guy who inspired an attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Chuck Heinz, West Hills