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What’s in a name? It depends on what is getting the moniker.
Last week, a member of Republican leadership in Congress and a half-dozen other Republican congressmen introduced H.R. 7845, a law to rename the Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia as the Donald J. Trump International Airport.
“In my lifetime, our nation has never been greater than under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump,” said Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Chief Republican Deputy Whip in the House of Representatives. “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.”
Seeing a messaging opportunity, a few Democrats in the US House filed their own legislation in response.
Three Democrats, Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who happens to represent the district that Dulles Airport falls within, Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.), who represents Miami; and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) introduced a similar measure to name the Miami Federal Corrections Facility in Miami as the ‘‘Donald J. Trump Federal Correctional Institution’’.
“When our Republican colleagues introduced their bill to rename Dulles after Donald Trump, I said the more fitting option would be to rename a federal prison,” said Connolly. “I see no reason to wait. Donald Trump faces nearly 100 felony charges. He has been found liable of sexual abuse and, subsequently, for defaming the victim of that abuse. He has been fined hundreds of millions of dollars in a civil fraud case. It is only right that the closest federal prison to Mar-a-Lago should bear his name. I hope our Republican friends will join us in bestowing upon Donald J. Trump the only honor he truly deserves.”
“Everyone knows President Trump loves to write his name in gold letters on all his buildings, said Moskowitz. “But he’s never had his name on a federal building before and as a public servant I just want to help the former president. Help us make that dream a reality.”
Trump is currently facing 4 criminal trials involving more than 90 indicted charges in Federal and state courts in Georgia and New York.
Neither bill has any real chance of passing.
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