Naming Buildings After Trump Is Not Only About Self-Aggrandizement But Also Self-Enrichment

There is a reason we don’t usually name things after presidents while they are still in office, or even while they are still alive. It’s to prevent self-aggrandizement—and personal grift. Yet as Donald Trump’s sychophants in Florida prepare to name the Palm Beach airport after him, his family is already ramping up their attempt to make money from the name change.

The New York Times reports:

Mr. Trump’s family business recently filed trademark applications for potential airport names, records show, an effort to preserve control over the use of his brand. The applications, filed last week with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, staked a claim to three names: President Donald J. Trump International Airport, Donald J. Trump International Airport and “DJT,” the possible airport code.

The application also sought to use the name in connection with a variety of airport-themed merchandise, including luggage, animal carriers and “shoes for protection of airline passengers’ feet during airport security screening.” …

A Trump-branded airport would break presidential and aviation norms. Other presidents had to wait years after leaving office—or to die—to have airports bear their names. And when other airports are named, a public authority or government agency almost always handles the trademark process, according to Josh Gerben, a trademark lawyer who discovered the Trump filings. …

While Mr. Gerben noted that the trademarks could provide a moneymaking opportunity for the president, Mr. Trump’s company has vowed not to charge for the use of his name on the Palm Beach airport.

At this point, I think we’re entitled to distrust Trump’s promise. After all, it doesn’t seem like he would file all the paperwork to stake a claim on royalties if he did’t plan to make money from it. Trump has already been abusing his position to demand that public buildings be named after him. Once he gets that concession, now he’s preparing the legal basis to cash in on it.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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