Two MAGA commentators were left scrambling on CNN after a new national poll revealed that Americans decisively oppose President Donald Trump’s drive to put his signature on U.S. banknotes.
The Treasury announced back in March that Trump would be the first sitting president to have his signature on legal tender.
The 80-year-old’s signature will appear on the $100 bill. Under the plan, the treasurer’s signature would disappear from U.S. paper currency for the first time since 1861. Treasury officials said the change is intended to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary, with the first notes printed in June.
But a new Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll found overwhelming opposition to putting Trump’s signature on U.S. paper currency, with 68 percent of Americans disliking the idea.
Just 12 percent said they supported the proposal, while 19 percent were unsure.
CNN host Abby Phillip confronted two MAGA allies, conservative commentator Scott Jennings and former New York City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli, with the poll on Tuesday.
“Apparently even the signature is controversial. The Post asked if you support or oppose his signature on paper money. 68 percent say they oppose it. This is a 70/20 issue, my friends,” Phillip said.
Borelli hit back: “If you’re asked a question, you’re going to say yes or no. It’s not controversial to anyone’s actual day.”
The panel also discussed Trump’s plan to put his face on the $1 coin.
In March, a federal arts panel approved designs for commemorative 24-karat gold coins bearing Trump’s portrait. The commission—made up entirely of Trump appointees—signed off on the proposal even though federal law prohibits living U.S. presidents from appearing on circulating currency.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has defended the move.
“As Treasury Secretary, I only have two mandates. The currency has to say ‘In God We Trust’ somewhere on it, and there cannot be an image of a living person, but we have the president’s signature, which again, I think it is appropriate for the 250th. During the 150th, there was a Calvin Coolidge coin, so we can put living people’s images on a coin. The president is also going to have a coin coming out with his image on it,” he told Fox News.
“What a bizarre thing for the Treasury Secretary to be fixated on in this moment for our country,” Phillip said after playing a clip of Bessent’s remarks.
But Borelli said it was a “bizarre thing for the media to hyperventilate about.”
“Why are you blaming the media when Scott Bessent is the one who invites the media to talk about it?” Phillip responded.
Jennings later chimed in, arguing that the coin will become a collector’s item.
“I’ve seen the coin, by the way. A few weeks ago I held one in my hand before this became public. And I asked the treasurer of the United States, I thought you couldn’t put a living person on money. And he said no printed bills, but the coins were okay. So that answered one question for me. You know what I think’s going to happen to it? It’s going to be a collector’s item,” he said.
“There’s going to be a whole bunch of people who want to collect it. And that’s what’s going to happen here.”
Trump has increasingly sought to stamp his name and image on prominent American institutions, renaming sites including the U.S. Institute of Peace, the Kennedy Center and a new class of Navy warships.
Meanwhile, Trump has reportedly been attempting to put his face on the $250 bill, despite the rule against living people appearing on U.S. currency.
