The US Mint launched a coin featuring Trump's face for the 250th anniversary and demand skyrocketed

This Tuesday, the United States Mint launched a coin featuring the president Donald Trump for the 250th anniversary of the country, and the demand was so high that the website for purchasing it crashed. With lines over an hour long, the 250,000 available coins sold out.

By noon, the website stated: "Due to extraordinarily high traffic, we are using a virtual waiting room", warning visitors that they have 10 minutes to complete a purchase once admitted.

The piece available for purchase features the image of President Trump created by engraver Joseph Menna, along with the inscriptions "LIBERTY," "IN GOD WE TRUST," and "1776 ~ 2026." The reverse displays the Presidential Seal with a "250" on the shield, in addition to the legends "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and "ONE DOLLAR."

While these new coins can be used as legal tender, there is a frenzy to collect them, and despite the fact that sitting presidents almost never appear on U.S. coins, the Treasury indicated that there is a 2020 regulation that authorizes the limited issuance of dollars to celebrate the country's Semiquincentennial.

The Democratic opposition has expressed its opposition to this piece, claiming that there is a federal law prohibiting the depiction of living persons on U.S. currency. However, legislation that Trump signed during his first term, called the 2020 Circulating Collectible Coin Redesign Act, included new text regarding the commemorative coins for the 250th birthday of the U.S.

Furthermore, it has already been made clear that the Trump administration does not require Congressional approval to mint the coin, as there is a precedent stemming from former President Calvin Coolidge, whose likeness appears on the historic Half Dollar of the sesquicentennial in 1926.