Trump claims – President Donald Trump shared an image of a new U.S. passport design and claimed it reads “Welcome, but be good,” though the passport photo does not appear to show those words. The post comes amid a broader second-term pattern of Trump branding across U.S. pub
President Donald Trump posted an image of a new U.S. passport design on Friday afternoon, along with a claim meant to land like a slogan: he said the document says, “Welcome, but be good.”
The image he shared does not appear to show those words on the passport page. What does show up is the president himself—one of the pages features Trump with his hands on a table, leaning forward.
That mismatch matters because it runs into the basic purpose of the document. A welcome message or admonition would fit more naturally on a U.S.-issued visa for foreign nationals. A passport, though, is something that can only be held by U.S. citizens and certain nationals already living in the United States, not by people seeking entry from abroad.
Trump’s passport post also sits within a months-long effort to redesign the U.S. passport. In April, The Bulwark reported that the U.S. State Department had initiated a “radical redesign.” The design unveiled at that time featured a different Trump image—his second inaugural portrait.
The Friday image adds yet another Trump-era marker to the mix. In his second term, Trump has put his name or image on a wide range of items and public-facing spaces. Most prominently, he put his name on 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.
Beyond the Kennedy Center, Trump’s name has also appeared on the U.S. Institute of Peace, on national park passes, and on 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.
Even the Navy has entered the branding story. Trump named a class of battleships after himself and said he would help design them. In December, he said, “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.”
Taken together, the passport image and Trump’s broader use of his name and likeness suggest a consistent impulse: to attach his identity to high-visibility U.S. symbols. What’s missing—or at least not visible in the photo he posted—is the precise message he claimed the new passport carries.
For now. the president’s claim rests on an image that. at a glance. appears to show his face without the “Welcome. but be good” line he attributes to it. The U.S. passport redesign may still be taking shape. but Trump’s post ensures the focus isn’t just on the redesign itself—it’s on the words he says are there. and the ones readers can’t find.
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