From this point forward, you’ll have to pay more than a penny for your thoughts. The U.S. Mint made the final penny on Wednesday, ending the coin’s 232-year run.

The U.S. Mint said in a release that the final penny was struck in Philadelphia by United States Treasurer Brandon Beach.

“While general production concludes today, the penny’s legacy lives on,” Kristie McNally, Acting Mint Director, said. “As its usage in commerce continues to evolve, its significance in America’s story will endure.”

If you want the Mint’s two cents on the issue, production costs are to blame for the penny’s extinction. U.S. Mint’s release stated that over the past decade, the cost of making each penny has risen from 1.42 cents to 3.69 cents. Business Insider reported that the government will save roughly $50 million annually by ceasing penny production.

There are still about 300 billion pennies in circulation. The Mint stated that because the supply exceeds the amount needed for commerce, pennies can still be used. Stores can still price items in one-cent increments — so don’t throw your piggy bank away just yet.

President Trump ordered the penny to be canceled back in February of this year. He said on Truth Social: “For far too long, the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than two cents.”

In the 2024 annual report, the U.S. Mint recorded that the cost of producing pennies increased by 20.2% in that year alone.

“This is so wasteful! I have instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies,” Trump declared.

So, nine months later, it did, at the Mint where the country’s lowest-value coins have been made since 1793. The penny entered circulation after the Coinage Act was passed in 1792.

President Abraham Lincoln has been the face of the one-cent coin since 1909. Lincoln was the first president featured on a coin in honor of his 100th birthday. The tails side of the most recent coin represents Lincoln’s preservation of the United States as a single country.

Over the 232-year lifespan of the penny, the design has evolved. The first penny showed a woman with her hair flowing, which the U.S. Mint said symbolized liberty. In its original form, the penny was larger and completely made out of copper. Today’s design is a mix of copper and zinc, featuring smaller elements.

More fun facts — back in 1943, the majority of pennies were made of zinc-coated steel in order to conserve copper needed for munitions during World War II.

Close-up view of United States One Cent Pieces, original World War II dates, placed on the American Flag

Fast forward to 2017, when pennies made in Philadelphia had a “P” marking on them for the first time to celebrate the Mint’s 225th anniversary.

With billions of pennies still around, who knows what history you’ll find in your coin purse, your change jar, or in between your couch cushions.

There is a serious battle happening inside the Democratic Party, ranging from the radicals — led by people like Zohran Mamdani, AOC, and Bernie Sanders — to the more traditional liberals, who don’t seem to have any sort of systemic immunity, to the moderate Democrats who are increasingly feeling out of step with their own party. 

Meanwhile, President Trump just keeps trucking along. Yesterday, the president of the United States spent Veterans Day speaking about the value of our veterans, stating:

This morning, on these hallowed grounds where generations of American heroes rest in eternal glory, we gather to fulfill the sacred duty of every free man and woman. On Veterans Day, we honor those who have worn the uniform, who have borne the battle, who have stood to watch, whose ranks have formed the mighty wall of flesh and blood, bravery and devotion, that has defended our freedom for 250 years. Today, to every veteran — we love our veterans — we say the words too often left unsaid: “Thank you for your service.”

President Trump has a baseline level of patriotism that comes through in everything that he does. The man truly loves this country and obviously loves the American flag and the American military.

He continued by speaking about what we owe to the military — something the radical Democrats do not believe — saying:

Yet every captain of industry, every pioneer of science, and every star whose brilliance has lit up the lights of Broadway, all share one thing in common. They only had the chance to show up because the veterans had the courage to serve. They took care of those people. They took care of all the stars. The stars that you read about wouldn’t be here without our veterans. Everything we have, everything our country has achieved, has been purchased by the muscle, spine and steel of the United States military. We owe it all to the fierce and noble men and women of the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and the United States Marines.

Contrast that with how Hasan Piker has been spending the last few days. He went to China, and while he was in China, he decided that he was going to blather about how America is terrible —  in a country that legitimately censors everything you do, kills its opposition, and runs them over with tanks. Hasan Piker was in Tiananmen Square, where protesters against the Chinese government were murdered.

“I don’t have any sort of patriotism in my heart for America, but just in general. … I care about people,” he declared.

If that is the choice that Americans are given, and if Democrats continue to embrace this sort of radicalism, they are in some real trouble.

Hasan Piker is, of course, fairly close with Zohran Mamdani, the new mayor-elect of New York. He attended his victory party in New York, where he was going around saying on camera that it was a tragedy that the Soviet Union had collapsed.

So, radicals are taking over the Democratic Party. There’s no question they are the ones with the momentum at this point, if the Democratic Party refuses to stand up and say no.

On Monday, there was a protest that turned into a small riot outside a TPUSA event at the University of California, Berkeley. This sort of thing has become common; Antifa radicals and their allies show up at events such as the TPUSA event.

Are there enough normie Democrats to stop this radicalism from taking over the party? The problem for them is that they are perfectly willing to go along with this sort of thing.

The liberal mainstream Democratic Party wants to capture what they think is the jet fuel of the radicals. Thus, Gavin Newsom raged against the end of the shutdown. His press office put out a statement: “Pathetic. This isn’t a deal. It’s a surrender. Don’t bend the knee!”

That’s Gavin Newsom linking arms with the radicals in his own party. J.B. Pritzker, who, like Newsom, wants to run for president, also said that the government should remain closed.

California Rep. Ro Khanna says the Democratic leadership is “out of touch.”

To understand what’s now happening inside the Democratic Party, look no further than the historical analogy found in the Russian Revolution. There were some soft socialists, the so-called Russian whites, led by a guy named Alexander Kerensky. They were trying to hold off the Reds, and started off in an unenviable position militarily, but ended up winning because eventually there wasn’t enough systemic immunity to stop them.

That’s where we are right now. The systemic immunity is gone.

We’ll see how long this current Democratic Party can last without splintering into pieces.