Trump Preaches Violence, GOP Presses To Rename An Airport
In February 2023, Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., introduced legislation, co-sponsored by far right colleagues, Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., to designate the “AR-15-style rifle” the National Gun of the United States.
The AR-15 plan was summarily shot down by other sane members of Congress.
Moore isn’t giving up in his quest to honor his leader. He hopes to follow the same path that led to rename Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, a species of micro-moth with distinctive yellowish-white scales covering the head; Tetragramma donaldtrumpi, a species of fossil sea urchin, a type of prickly bottom feeder; and Dermophis donaldtrumpi, a new species of blind amphibian.
Moore would probably be more successful in renaming some obscure plant than he will be with a new plan to rechristen Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. to Trump International Airport. Dulles Airport, opened in 1962, is named after John Foster Dulles, a historic, influential Secretary of State who fought communism during the heat of the Cold War. Trump is facing 91 felony charges for allegations from stealing and hiding top secret government documents to fomenting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by trump supporters.
The bill to name the international airport after an accused felon is sponsored by staunch trump loyalist, Rep. Guy Lorin Reschenthaler, R-Pa. Co-sponsors, all Republicans, include Moore; Rep. Andrew Ogles and Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee, Rep. Michael Waltz of Florida, Rep. Paul A. Gosar of Arizona, and Rep. Troy E. Nehls of Texas.
Reschenthaler submitted the proposed legislation on the eve of the trial charging trump with paying off a sex worker in 2015, to keep her story out of the news shortly before the 2016 presidential election. When Reschenthaler’s bill was introduced, the ink was still wet on a judge’s order for trump to stop making venal and threatening comments about court personnel and in response, trump made more venal and threatening comments about court personnel.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., suggested that he might back renaming a federal prison in trump’s dishonor. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said that a new Trump International Airport could offer round-trip service to Moscow (Russia, not Idaho).
Reschenthaler must know the chances are less than zilch for his bill to pass as he is apparently doing whatever he can to bend down as low as he can to win praise from his supreme leader.
“As millions of domestic and international travelers fly through the airport, there is no better symbol of freedom, prosperity, and strength than hearing ‘Welcome to Trump International Airport’ as they land on American soil,” Reschenthaler said in a statement.
Reschenthaler, 41, a member of Congress since 2018, said trump is “the greatest President in my lifetime” and said the renamed Trump National Airport would stand by Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, both named “after America’s two best presidents.”
In 2013, Reschenthaler briefly co-hosted a radio program with Carl Higbie, who resigned from the trump administration in 2018 after what were considered “anti-gay, anti-Muslim, racist and sexist remarks he had made on his radio program.” Reschenthaler wrote the foreword to Higbie’s self-published 2012 book.
Ogles, 53, in Congress since 2023, is a far right lawmaker who backed trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was rigged in President Joe Biden’s favor. Reschenthaler; Ogles; Fleischmann, 62, in congress since 2011; Moore, 57, in congress since 2021; and Waltz, 49, elected in 2018, all joined in the unsuccessful lawsuit to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Soon after the Supreme Court refused to hear the challenge, the Orlando Sentinel editorial board rescinded its endorsement of Waltz in the 2020 election, because “We had no idea, had no way of knowing at the time, that Waltz was not committed to democracy.”
Gosar, 65, a congressman since 2013, has gained notoriety for his conspiracy theories and connections with Holocaust deniers and the far right militant groups, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. Gosar voted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Moore also voted to overturn the election results and four days after the insurrections, posted on Twitter that the election was stolen.
Troy Nehls, 57, a representative since 2021, announced his support for trump for president in 2024 shortly after FBI agents raided trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion, in search of stolen top secret documents. Nehls denounced the FBI and Department of Justice as “corrupt” and during Biden’s 2024 State of the Union Address, Nehls wore a shirt featuring trump’s mug shot and the words “Never Surrender!”
A few relatively obscure places have been renamed after trump, like the 12-mile long Trump Drive in Kalispell, Mont., headquarters of the Montana Rifle Company. Kalispell also is the hometown of Randall Weaver, an American survivalist and self-proclaimed white separatist. He was a central figure in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff with federal agents at his cabin near Naples, Idaho, during which his wife and son were killed.
On the day of the insurrection at the Capitol, dozens of people objected to Biden’s victory demonstrated in downtown Kalispell, waving flags and encouraging passing motorists to honk in support of trump.
In 2022, Anthony Sabatini, 36, a former Florida state legislator and 2020 election conspiracist, submitted a plan to rename Route 27 as President Donald J. Trump Highway. The road runs the length of the state, ending in a historically, African American neighborhood in Miami. The road renaming was never adopted.
Sabatini served in the Florida House of Representatives from 2018 to 2022 and lost a bid for Congress in 2022. In a high school photo, Sabatini and a friend were pictured in blackface. In his freshman year of college, he was photographed in brownface. In response to the protests following the murder of George Floyd, Sabatini tweeted that protesters who unlawfully enter businesses should be met with an AR-15 rifle. And during the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, following the shooting and death of three men in Kenosha, Wis., Sabatini tweeted “KYLE RITTENHOUSE FOR CONGRESS.”
Sabatini also criticized President Biden’s pledge to nominate an African American woman to the Supreme Court following Justice Stephen Breyer’s announcement that he would retire.
“Biden MUST be impeached for his anti-white racist exclusion of any white nominee to the Supreme Court,” Sabatini tweeted.
The 436-acre, Donald J. Trump State Park was named on land donated by trump in 2006 in New York State. Maintenance of the park was halted and the park was closed in 2010 due to budget constraints, and the park remains largely undeveloped. Most of the buildings have been demolished; only a few foundations and the existing tennis court remain. There have been several calls to rename the park.
Trump bought the land in 1998 with plans to build a $10 million private golf course. The land contained significant wetlands and development faced environmental restrictions and tough permitting requirements. Trump donated the tract in 2006 after he failed to gain town approvals to develop the property. At that time trump claimed the parcel was worth $100 million and used the donation as a tax write-off.
In 2021, Oklahoma Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed legislation to rename a 20-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 287 in Oklahoma as President Donald J. Trump Highway. The bill was initially stalled by Democrats because in most cases, the law requires a person be dead for at least three years before a road or bridge can be renamed. Republicans repealed the three-year waiting period, allowing the highway to be named after trump even though he was not yet dead.
Also in 2021, Ohio Republican Reps. Jon Cross and Reggie Stoltzfus proposed a bill to make June 14 “President Donald J. Trump Day.”
“Let’s show the 3,154,834 Ohio voters who cast their ballot to re-elect Donald J. Trump that we as a legislature recognize the accomplishments of his administration,” the lawmakers said, “to celebrate one of the greatest presidents in American history.”
June 14 is trump’s birthday and it also is Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the U.S. flag on June 14, 1777. House Democrats said it was not the appropriate day to honor trump.
In 2019, Oklahoma Republican state Senators Nathan Dahm and Marty Quinn tried to name a portion of Route 66 after trump. The plan was quickly dropped after Republicans and Democrats condemned the politicization of the historic highway which is known as the “Mother Road.” The highway was established in 1926 and was one of the nation’s first continuous stretches of paved highway, serving as a major path for those who migrated to the West. “The Mother Road” ultimately stretched 2,448 miles (3,940 kilometers) from Chicago to Los Angeles.
An irony of sorts was the 2022 renaming of the Nevada justice complex as the Donald J. Trump Justice Complex. The complex, which opened in 2013, houses the sheriff’s office, jail, Third Judicial District Court and Walker River Justice Court.
In 2023, Florida renamed Palm Avenue in Hialeah as President Donald J. Trump Avenue. Mayor-elect Esteban “Steve” Bovo had promised to honor trump in the majority-Hispanic, Republican stronghold. Hialeah weighed a similar proposal in 2022, but the resolution was unanimously rejected by the city’s Historic Preservation Board.
Around the world, a few places bear trump’s name. In 2018, the United States Square in Jerusalem was renamed Donald Trump Square. The honor was bestowed in recognition of the trump administration’s recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The name was changed back in 2023 to United States Square.
A proposed train station near the Western Wall in the Old City of Jerusalem was named Trump Station. Trump Heights in the occupied Golan Heights, is a planned Israeli settlement.
Elsewhere, Kamez, Albania, inaugurated Donald J Trump Boulevard in the Frutikulturës neighborhood. Mayor Lulzim Basha led the ceremony to express the city’s gratitude for trump’s investment in the area. Trump also was declared an “Honorary Citizen.”
Many places removed trump’s name in the wake of his 2019 impeachment. They included two ice skating rinks in Central Park in New York where the red signs that spelled out “Trump,” are no longer visible.
Forbes reported that nine buildings have removed trump’s name. In 2018, workers removed the name “Trump Place” from the front and back of 200 Riverside Boulevard, a residential building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. The boards at 220 Riverside Boulevard and 120 Riverside Boulevard also voted in favor of removing trump’s name from the exterior of each building.
In 2017, the CIM Group paid the Trump Organization to end its contract with Trump SoHo, a hotel in New York City. The building officially changed its name to the Dominick.
In 2017, the owner of the former Trump International Hotel and Tower in Toronto announced that the building will no longer display Trump’s name.
In 2018, after a battle with the Trump Organization, the majority owner of the former Trump Panama Hotel, Orestes Fintiklis, ordered the removal of the President’s name from the building and the hotel is no longer doing business with the Trump Organization.