White House defends Trump passport with Obama Metro card—but there’s one big difference

“The only way they get away with all the scandals, embezzlement, conflicts of interest, fraud, and abuse is by saying ‘that Black guy did it first,'” said Dr. Marcus Board Jr., a political science professor at Howard University.

After public blowback from the State Department’s announcement of a limited supply of U.S. passports featuring printed portraits of President Donald Trump, the White House defended the move by pointing to Trump’s frequent political punching bag: former President Barack Obama.

The White House on Tuesday celebrated the new U.S. “Patriot passport” on X, to the dismay of some users, one of whom replied, “MAGA worship your idol,” along with an AI-generated image of a golden bull statue adorned with Trump’s face. A group of people, presumably supporters of the president, is seen kneeling before the statue.

The White House quickly responded to the post, writing, “What about this one Mike??” The post included an image of a 2009 D.C. Metro card eblazoned with a picture of former President Barack Obama.

The user, Mike, responded to the White House’s defense, writing, “really hoping you would have had enough time to think up something reasonable to reply cos I mean, you can’t seriously be comparing a one day metro ticket to a US passport with a ten year validity. C’mon y’all can do better!!”

There is a big difference between the administration’s Trump passports, which will be available in July to commemorate the United States of America’s 250th anniversary, and the limited-edition Obama Metro cards. Unlike the Trump passports, which will be valid for 10 years and are sanctioned by the U.S. federal government, the Metro cards, in honor of President Obama, were issued by the D.C. local government.

According to a 2009 press release, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority issued commemorative Obama Inaugural SmarTrip cards to honor Obama’s historic 2009 inauguration, in which he would be sworn in as America’s first Black president.

“The new cards feature a smiling President-elect with gold lettering across the face of the cards. They work just like Metro’s standard SmarTrip card,” read the release.

“The Trump Administration is trying to win a popularity contest and everyone of us watching is losing,” says Dr. Marcus Board Jr., an associate professor of political science at Howard University.

Board tells theGrio, “Obama is their North Star…the only way they get away with all the scandals, embezzlement, conflicts of interest, fraud, and abuse is by saying ‘that Black guy did it first.’

Markus Batchelor, national political director at People For the American Way, says, “The White House trying to compare this to a privately produced commemorative Metro card sleeve is “embarrassing whataboutism.” He tells theGrio, “One was a souvenir created outside government. The other is the federal government using official state documents and taxpayer resources to elevate a political leader’s personal image. Those are not remotely the same thing.”

Batchelor described the new Trump passports as the latest in Trump’s “government-sponsored vanity projects” that “America does not need.”

“We need leaders who respect public institutions enough not to turn them into mirrors for their own ego. Putting a sitting president’s image on official U.S. passports is the kind of behavior Americans associate with strongmen and personality cults — not democracies,” he noted. “A passport is not campaign merchandise. It belongs to the American people, not to whichever politician temporarily occupies the White House.”

Dr. Board especially took issue with the White House’s “‘Blame the Black person’ strategy,” something he says historically had real consequences when considering public health and criminal justice. He said the Trump administration is “working together to bully, troll, and extort as much money as possible.”

Batchelor said what makes the new Trump passports even more offensive is the “hyprocrisy,” explaining, “This administration lectures everyday Americans about patriotism while treating public institutions like branding opportunities for one man.”

He added, “From the renaming of the Kennedy Center and Institute of Peace to the cheap ‘Trump was right about everything’ hats made in China given to guests at The White House, Trump is showing he only cares about one American — himself. Donald Trump’s whole political program is built on self-promotion, division, grift, and contempt for democratic norms.”