Who wouldn't want a gold coin to commemorate . . . Mar-a-Lago?

BY EMMA STEFANSKY
JUNE 24, 2018 2:45 PM

... On Sunday, The New York Times published a lengthy report about the challenge coins manufactured by the Trump administration, commemorating everything from Mar-a-Lago to his visit to the Vatican. The Mar-a-Lago one, in particular, has ethics groups concerned, citing federal laws that prohibit the use of public resources, like the taxpayer money that goes into funding the coins, to promote private businesses. Norman L. Eisen, chairman of watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, called it “a metallic tourist brochure” ...

Trump’s challenge coin designs have created a unique conundrum for an administration already under scrutiny for combining politics and business. One of the coins, paid for by the R.N.C. and approved by Trump, is “thicker, wider, and more gold” than the coins of preceding presidents, has Trump’s name on it three times, and replaces the traditional “E pluribus unum” national seal with Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” The White House Counsel’s Office has already warned staff not to display the coin in government buildings, and other ethics groups have said that the “MAGA” coins shouldn’t be distributed amongst the military, as politics and the military ought to be separated.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/06/trump-challenge-coins-mar-a-lago