Trump Claims New U.S. Passports Say ‘Welcome, But Be Good’ for Some Reason

Kyle Mazza/TheNews2/Cover Images (Cover Images via AP Images

President Donald Trump posted an image of a new U.S. passport design and claimed that the document says, “Welcome, but be good.”

The image of the passport does not appear to feature those words. The more notable takeaway, however, is that a welcome message/admonition would make sense on a U.S.-issued visa to foreign nationals, but not a passport, which can only be held by U.S. citizens and certain nationals already living in the U.S.

The president posted the image on Friday afternoon. One of the pages in the passport shows him with his hands on a table, leaning forward.

In April, The Bulwark reported that the U.S. State Department had initiated a “radical redesign” of the U.S. passport. However, the one unveiled then features a different image of Trump, that of his second inaugural portrait.

In his second term, Trump has put his name or image on a whole host of things, most notably the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Last month, a judge ordered Trump’s name removed from the building. Two weeks ago, crews took the name off, but before doing so, they put up a tarp to hide the removal from the public.

Trump also put his name on the U.S. Institute of Peace, national park passes, and banners with his face on them around Washington, D.C., including ones at the Department of Justice, the Department of Labor, and the Department of the Interior.

The president also named a class of battleships after himself and said he would help design them.

“The U.S. Navy will lead the design of the ships, along with me because I’m a very aesthetic person, alongside our partners in American industry,” Trump said in December.

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