(Washington) The Palm Beach International Airport, in Florida, must soon be renamed after Donald Trump, after the adoption of a project to this effect by the parliamentarians of this state where the private residence of the president is based.
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The billionaire and real estate magnate, who has already put his name on numerous buildings, continues to want to leave his mark on the country through an unprecedented communication and construction campaign that borders on the cult of personality.
The Republican-dominated Florida House and Senate approved the bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport to President Donald J. Trump International Airport.
The airport in Palm Beach, a city known for its sandy beaches and sprawling, luxurious estates, is just a few miles from the president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
Governor Ron DeSantis, once an adversary of Trump, is expected to sign the measure into law, which must still be approved by the civil aviation regulator (FAA).
The airport will then join the list of buildings and infrastructure bearing Trump’s name.
The board of directors of the Kennedy Center, an artistic and memorial complex in tribute to former President John F. Kennedy in Washington, renamed it the Trump-Kennedy Center in December, a near oxymoron as the values of the two men are opposed.
The president’s ambitions happily mix his official function and his private ambitions.
He sought to rename Penn Station in New York, as well as Dulles International Airport in Washington, according to US media. These initiatives were rejected.
According to several media outlets, including CNN and NBC, citing anonymous sources, Donald Trump offered the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, to release more than $16 billion in federal funds frozen by his administration, if the latter agreed to help rename the station and the airport.
The funds are intended in particular for a vast rail tunnel project between New York and New Jersey. Chuck Schumer declined the offer. New York Representative Jerry Nadler denounced an attempt at “racketeering and extortion”.
The Treasury Department also confirmed the existence of a plan to issue a commemorative one-dollar coin bearing Trump’s image. However, laws prohibit the representation of a sitting or living president on the national currency.
