Transcription
I'm not sure I've seen the entire internet laugh at Donald Trump in the way that they just did. So, Trump posted this on Truth Social. The USA's new passport, which says, "Welcome, but be good." President DJT.
So, let me pause on this for 1 second because uh this is apparently not as intuitive as I thought it was 5 seconds ago. A passport is a document issued to US citizens by the US government. It is what we carry when we travel abroad. It is not a message to foreigners. It's a document that says, "Hey, this person is American and they're allowed back in." The people being welcomed in this transaction are not Americans. Americans live here. You don't welcome someone back to their own house.
If Trump wanted to put "Welcome, but be good" on something that actually said "Welcome" to somebody, he'd want a visa, which is the document issued to foreign nationals seeking to enter the United States. That's the document where "Welcome, but be good" would at least make a modicum of sense, although I still argue that it's very weird. But no, he put it on the passport, the American passport, which Americans use to leave.
So, either Trump is welcoming his own citizens to their own country, or he's telling Americans to behave themselves when they travel abroad, which for the guy who campaigned on America First is a remarkably submissive message to put on the nation's travel document. And by the way, The Washington Post noted that those words don't even appear anywhere in the images that Trump actually posted. So, there's also just a very real possibility that he made it up entirely. But that couldn't possibly be the case. Donald Trump lie? No.
But here's the thing, and this is where I want to zoom out because "Welcome, but be good" is actually the perfect encapsulation of the Trump presidency. Not because of the confused civics, although that counts, too, but because of what's actually in this passport. Inside this new patriotic passport, available in limited quantities starting just before July 4th, is not the Statue of Liberty, not Independence Hall, not a painting of the Great Plains, it is a picture of Donald Trump looming over the Resolute Desk with the Declaration of Independence behind him and his signature in gold below, making him the first living president whose image appears inside Americans travel documents. Because lest you forget, every opportunity is a good opportunity for Trump to promote himself.
Just a quick note here to say that if you appreciate my work, which is and always will be 100% free, a small ask is if you could please pre-order my new book The Day After, which explores how Democrats must finally wield power if they're fortunate enough to get it back. I'll also be on tour in DC, New York, and LA mid-July. You can grab tickets to the tour and you can pre-order the book at the same link, which I'll put on the screen and in the post description of this video. You can also find them at briantylercohen.com/book. Again, I'll never paywall a single piece of content, is the one time that I'll ask for some support for a book that I really think meets this moment. Thanks so much.
And look, if this were a one-off, maybe you could chalk it up to 250th anniversary. Okay, sure, uh self-aggrandizing, but it is a milestone, so I get it. But this is not a one-off. This is a consistent pattern. And the pattern is that Donald Trump has spent his second term systematically plastering his own name, his own face, and his own signature onto every inch of the American government that he can reach.
His name went on the US Institute of Peace. His name went on the Kennedy Center, which Congress literally designated as a living memorial to a slain president, only to have the federal court rule it illegal and force the removal of the letters in the dead of night with scaffolding up, tarps down, because they could not allow anybody else to see Donald Trump's name coming down, God forbid. His portrait went on the National Parks Pass. His face is going on commemorative coins. His signature, the first from a sitting president, is being added to US paper currency. His portrait now hangs from the facades of the US Department of Labor, the Department of Justice, the Department of Agriculture, and his face is now going on your passport.
But wait, there's more. Trump is building a 90,000 square foot ballroom at the White House. He demolished the entire East Wing to do it. The cost started at 200 million, then went to 300 million, then 400 million, and internal estimate from the contractor puts it now at 600 million with taxpayers on the hook for a significant portion. When a reporter asked about those rising costs, Trump just called her dumb.
When CBS News asked Donald Trump who the arch is for, his triumphal arch, the 250 foot structure that he wants to build in front of Arlington National Cemetery, modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, that could cost a hundred million dollars, here's what Trump said. >> What is this, Mr. What is this, Mr. President? >> IT'S GOING TO BE BUILT. >> For who? >> Yeah, no, I know where it is, but who's it for? >> The Arc de Trump? >> He said, and I quote, "Me." That arch is for him. He said that out loud to a reporter on camera.
And then there's the reflecting pool, which Trump had painted American flag blue, which is a uh unbeknownst to me, a shade of green, at a cost of millions of dollars. A project that he discussed for 10 straight minutes at a recent cabinet meeting. Now, ultimately, it was bungled because he decided to award the deal to one of his pals, and uh guess who's on the hook for the costs? Yeah.
So, just to recap, Trump's America has a 600 million dollar ballroom, a 100 million dollar arch for himself, a reflecting pool, his face on coins, his face on the park pass, his face on the passport, his name on the Kennedy Center until the courts took it down, his signature on money, his portrait hanging off federal buildings, and yet while all of this has been consuming the attention and energy and time of the Trump administration, while they've been focused on ballrooms and arches and painting pools blue and putting his face on every document a citizen might carry, what hasn't been getting done?
Because I seem to remember a candidate who stood in front of a table piled with groceries and told you that he was going to bring prices down on day one, every single day. According to a Senate Banking Committee report, American households paid an estimated $2,120 more in 2025 because of inflation under Trump, which has gone up 33% since Biden left office. Groceries are up, electricity is up almost 7% more expensive than 2025, coffee price is up 29% since January 2025, beef is up 21%, and this is from Fox News, uh not exactly a left-wing outlet. Trump breaks day one promise to lower costs as prices surge across America in first six months. The bottom 20% of households, the people who can least afford it, faced roughly $950 in additional inflation-related costs in 2025 alone. That's more than 5% of their entire estimated income just gone because of policies out of this White House. He promised to end inflation immediately, promised to be the greatest dealmaker of all time, promised a manufacturing renaissance, promised lower grocery bills, cheaper energy, and instead grocery prices are at record highs, over 75,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since Liberation Day, electricity bills are up, Medicaid's getting gutted, healthcare costs are surging, but hey, at least he's got a new arch, and uh it's for him. He said so.
This is the thing that I think is so important to understand about this moment because it is easy to look at the "Welcome, but be good" post and just laugh. And honestly, you should laugh because it deserves it. It deserves the ridicule and scorn. But what it actually reflects is a president who is so consumed by his own image, so focused on seeing his face on coins and passports and 250-foot monuments that the people who voted for him to lower their grocery bills are simply not the point. You are not the point. Your costs are not the point. Your Medicaid is not the point. Your retirement savings are not the point. The point is the arch, is the ballroom, is the passport with his face on it. The point is that in 10 years, long after Donald Trump is gone, Americans will still be handing customs agents a booklet with Donald Trump staring back at them. A guy who, when asked who his Trump triumphal arch was for, said, "Me." And meant it. If welcome, but be good should be for anyone, it should be for Trump. But then again, he is not in the business of ever taking good advice.
>> [music] >> Before you go, I'm very excited to announce that I've written a new book titled The Day After: How to wield power in a post-Trump world. The book explores what is, in my opinion, the single most important theme that we're dealing with in politics today and moving forward, power. Specifically, how Republicans abuse it and how Democrats refuse to wield it. This book explains how we got here and more importantly, how we should finally wield power if we're fortunate enough to get it back. It is the blueprint for progressives who want to do far more than just restore the status quo. Please pre-order today by visiting the link in the episode description or go to briantylercohen.com/book. You can grab yours from any of the major retailers like Amazon or Barnes & Noble or find an independent bookstore closest to you that's also listed on that website. Thanks so much for supporting independent media.