Following a tumultuous week in U.S. politics, Toronto collector, exhibitor and mailer’s postmark manager Derwin Mak added to his “Famous New Yorkers” series with a new cover featuring former president Donald Trump.
One of the series’ five covers, it marks Trump’s second impeachment—a world record for federal politicians.
On Jan. 13, a week before Trump’s term ended, a single article of impeachment charged him with “incitement of insurrection” against the U.S. government and “lawless action” for his role in encouraging the Capitol riot a week earlier. The House of Representatives voted 232-197 to impeach Trump, whose impeachment trial will begin in February and could permanently disqualify the beleaguered past president from holding public office in the United States.
Mak’s cover, which features a cachet of the Capitol Building alongside Trump’s portrait, is franked with a 2019 “U.S. Flag” stamp tied by a Jan. 13-dated mailer’s postmark.
The postmark is from Mak’s Transcamster Company, an express company he launched late last year to allow him to privately postmark mail. The company name is a nod to his Transcamster Bog, a pair of non-contiguous plots of land in Scotland, from where he issues local stamps and first-day covers.
On Jan. 20, Mak also created a first-day cover marking Trump’s final day in office. It’s franked with a 2015 “Neon Celebrate” stamp tied by a Jan. 20-dated Transcamster Company mailer’s postmark.
The other three covers in the Famous New Yorkers series include:
- a June 30, 2019-dated cover featuring actor and model Susan Hayward, who was born in Brooklyn on that date in 1917;
- a Dec. 18, 2019-dated cover highlighting Trump’s first impeachment; and
- a Jan. 2, 2020-dated cover honouring science-fiction writer and biochemistry professor Isaac Asimov, who was born in Russia on that date in 1920 but moved at age three with his family to New York.
Trump, who was born in New York in 1946, is the only U.S. president (and the only holder of any federal office) to be impeached twice.