The Dictatorship
Trump gets an airport and a bridge named after him on the same day, extending pattern
As this week got underway, Donald Trump held an event in the Oval Office in which he admitted that he has, “in certain cases,” directed Republicans to put his name on assorted priorities. A day later, as the NATO summit got underway in Turkey, he told reporters that he was “very happy” to see that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had named a new airport building after him.
Two days later, the Republican celebrated again when the airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, officially adopted its new name — the President Donald J. Trump International Airport — marking the first time in American history that an airport has been named for a sitting president. (Major carriers have already started using Trump’s initials on their online booking pages.)
As part of a licensing agreement between commissioners in Palm Beach County and Trump’s family business, the Trump Organization can profit from airport merchandise sold outside the airport’s premises. The New York Times reported that the unique arrangement, which does not exist for other airports named after presidents, “also gives the Trump family control over any biographical material presented at the airport, or on airport materials. And it requires the airport to pick a vendor to provide any branded merchandise from a list approved by the Trump family business.”
The same day as the official changeover of the facility formerly known as Palm Beach International Airport, Trump also got a bridge named after him.
On Thursday afternoon, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traveled to Tennessee to headline an event renaming a bridge on Interstate 40 after his boss. He was joined by both of the state’s Republican senators, as well as a variety of GOP state and federal lawmakers.
With these developments in mind, it’s time once again to update the growing list related to the increasingly weird Trump glorification campaign:
U.S. currency: Trump recently announced plans to add his signature to U.S. dollars — a first for a sitting American president — which is not to be confused with plans for a massive 3-inch commemorative gold coin that features his face.
Renaming buildings: The president’s allies tried to add Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center and successfully added his name to the Institute of Peace. By some accounts, the president expects the proposed White House ballroom to bear his name too.
U.S. military: Plans to construct “Trump class” battleships are underway, and the nation’s next-generation fighter jet is set to have an “F-47” designation in honor of him. (Trump is the nation’s 47th president.)
Passports: The State Department is printing 40,000 commemorative Trump-branded passports that became available last week.
Training and standards: Training for incoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers was reduced from 50 days to 47 days in honor of Trump. (The accelerated training schedule was later tweaked.)
The airport in Florida: In April, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport after Trump. (The president wanted to change the name of Dulles International Airport, just outside Washington, D.C., to honor himself, and he was even prepared to execute an extortion scheme with Democratic officials to get his way. He had to settle for a much smaller airport.)
Banners: Giant fascistic banners featuring Trump’s face are currently covering the front of several government buildings, including the headquarters of the Labor, Agriculture and Justice departments. They were followed by the administration unveiling different banners around the nation’s capital that show the president in a hard hat alongside text that reads, “Thank you, President Trump.”
Accouterments: The administration has launched “Trump Gold Cards,” “Trump Accounts,” “TrumpRx” and TrumpIRA.govwhile the National Park Service added Trump’s face to its park passes. The White House is also moving forward with plans to feature 47 trees in Lafayette Square, the park across the street from the White House.
Domestic ambitions: Trump wants a new football stadium in Washington named after him, as well as New York City’s Penn Station.
International ambitions: Trump indicated that he wants and expects a statue to honor him in Venezuela. The Republican also said in January that it was “not too late” to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico (which he attempted to rename once already) to the “Gulf of Trump,” and he has suggested the Strait of Hormuz should also be called the “Strait of Trump.”
Don Colossus: The president has extended his enthusiastic blessing to a 22-foot golden statue of himselfwhich has been given a prominent home at one of his golf clubs.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”