'White House Gift Shop' Is Selling Trump COVID Coins

Unofficial shop is celebrating president's 'personal defeat' of the virus
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 6, 2020 3:29 PM CDT
Unofficial White House Gift Shop Sells Trump COVID Coin
President Trump salutes to Marine One as he stands on the balcony outside of the Blue Room as returns to the White House Monday, Oct. 5, 2020.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

The White House Gift Shop—which no longer has any official ties to the White House—isn't waiting for President Trump to make a full recovery before it commemorates his recovery from COVID-19. The online store is now taking orders for a $100 "Trump defeats COVID" coin, to be shipped 11 days after the election, Fox reports. In the listing for the coin, WHGS chairman Anthony Giannini says he designed the coin celebrating Trump's "ascendance over and personal defeat of the deadly COVID pandemic virus" as the final commemorative coin in the "Proud Moments in History" series chronicling Trump's candidacy and presidency. He says the coin's design is "intentionally concealed until its release."

The coin went on sale before the president was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Monday, reports the Hill. "When we heard the sad news of President Trump's positive COVID test, once again we had faith and prayed but we knew our President would find a way to Knockout COVID in early rounds of this battle,” Giannini writes. "President Trump, as you know, is a fan of boxing, and the new design includes more than a hint of superhero qualities in history's most fascinating president." He describes Trump's "defeat" of the virus as "iconic, universal, heroic." Business Insider notes that while the shop has a logo that appears official, it has been a private enterprise since Giannini's firm acquired it in 2013 from a nonprofit that ran it on behalf of Secret Service members. (In April, it released commemorative COVID coins.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X