For $100, You Can Now Buy This Absurd Commemorative Coronavirus Coin Honoring President Trump From the White House Gift Shop

The United States is still very much in the thick of the
pandemic, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at the latest
product on offer at the White House Gift Shop: a commemorative coin
celebrating the Trump Administration’s heroic, victorious efforts
to fight coronavirus.

The coin shows an artist’s rendering of the coronavirus overlaid on
a world map, and reads (with characteristically Trumpian
capitalization), “World vs Virus: We Fought the Unseen Enemy.
Everyday HEROES Suited Up. Everyday CITIZENS Did Their Part.” The
other side features the presidential podium, where Trump until
recently delivered his controversial daily press briefings.

The coin is on sale for a cool $100—marked off from $125 for
pre-orders. It was designed by Challenge Design, an Illinois and
Indiana-based company specializing in commemorative
coins. When reached by Artnet News, company owner and creative
director Mary H. Harms declined to comment. The White House Gift
Shop did not respond to inquiries.

Listed on the coin like Marvel characters are members of the
COVID-19 Task Force: Trump, Vice President Michael Pence, Secretary
of State Steven Mnuchin, surgeon general Jerome Adams, coronavirus
response coordinator Deborah Birx, and director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci.

The White House Gift Shop, which also sells Trump’s signature
red “Make America Great
Again” hat for $24.95, was founded by President Harry S Truman
and the Secret Service in 1946, but has not been affiliated with
the US government since 2013. Privately owned and for-profit,
it does, however, feature a USA.gov logo on its website.

The limited-edition COVID tchotchke is the 11th coin in the gift
shop’s so-called “Historic Moments” series. That includes one
commemorating Trump’s North Korean
summit in Singapore—an official government
version made headlines when it
was pushed into production even when the talk was temporarily
cancelled—and not one, but two coins titled “Genius Makes Its Own
Rules.”

According to the New York
Times, Trump’s presidency has “yielded more—and more
elaborate—coins that are shinier, flashier and even bigger” than
those of his predecessors.

He even put his MAGA campaign slogan on a presidential challenge
coin—a token handed out to service members to commemorate special
achievements—replacing the traditional presidential seal and
national motto, E pluribus unum, or “Out of many, one.” Trump also
eschewed silver or copper, as is typical of challenge coins, for
gold, in keeping with his preferred gilded aesthetic.

The President’s unique approach to coins has already inspired
some artists to put their own twist on the form. Valery Estabrook presented her
project, called “The
Impeachmint,” at last
month’s SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York. In
the series, she immortalizes the administration’s lowest moments,
such as Trump’s impeachment.

The artist was already planning to design a coin to memorialize
the administration’s response to the pandemic. But she was
surprised to have been beaten to the punch by the White House’s own
gift shop.

“Whenever there’s an event that’s truly horrifying, I try to
give myself some time to see how things play out before solidifying
the design,” she told Artnet News. “Things seem to be changing
every week so I’m still waiting to see if something even more
egregious will happen. Will it be the comments about injecting
disinfectants? Or Trump’s early denials? Or something yet to take
place?”

Her current working draft, available for pre-order for
$99 ($1 less than the official coin!), features a quote
from March 13 in which Trump denied that it was his fault that
there were not sufficient coronavirus tests. “I don’t take responsibility
at all,” said the president.

The gift shop’s coin is for sale on its website under the pithy
name “COVID-19, World Vs the Unseen Enemy, Everyday Heroes,
President Donald J, Trump, Vice President Michael R. Pence,
Secretary S. Mnuuchin, Drs. Jerome Adams Deborah Birx Anthony
Fauci.” (Yes, the label on the website misspells Mnuchin’s name,
but luckily they got it right for the coin itself.)

The website claims that “100% of Profit Donated to Five Major
COVID-19 Research Hospitals,” although the hospitals are not
identified. An earlier report from LGBTQ Nation noted
that 20 percent of proceeds will be “donated each day to US
hospitals including Johns Hopkins for its COVID-19 Coordination and
Trackins [sic].”

The post For $100, You Can Now Buy This Absurd Commemorative
Coronavirus Coin Honoring President Trump From the White House Gift
Shop appeared first on artnet News.