Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed legislation this week clearing the runway for President Donald Trump’s home airport to bear his name.
Come July, Palm Beach International Airport will be renamed President Donald J. Trump International Airport. Trump flies through the airport on the way to and from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.
The new law authorizing the name change marks another example of Trump’s name and likeness appearing on American buildings and institutions — a phenomenon that was exceedingly rare for a sitting president before Trump’s second term. In Washington, Trump’s name is newly affixed to the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center. Last week, the Treasury Department said it would print Trump’s signature on paper currency to mark the nation’s 250th birthday, the first time the country will see a sitting president’s signature on its dollar bills.
During a news conference Tuesday, DeSantis brushed off a question about whether he was concerned about the precedent of renaming an institution for a sitting president. DeSantis, who challenged Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential nominating contest and now calls him a friend, said he thought the airport rebrand “was appropriate” given that Trump is the first president to hail from Florida and did not seek the change himself.
“It would be one precedent if he did it, but he didn’t do it,” DeSantis said. “It was done by people in the legislature, and I don’t think that he asked for it.”
Florida state Rep. Meg Weinberger (R), who was endorsed by Trump and sponsored the bill, has repeatedly called the legislation a fitting way for Palm Beach to honor Trump. It sailed through the GOP-controlled legislature along party lines in February.
The passage came after a holdings company associated with the president, DTTM Operations, filed for trademark protections on several airport names, including Donald J. Trump International Airport.
A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday that airport name changes are a local issue and not subject to the agency’s approval. The FAA would need to “complete administrative tasks” to reflect the name change, including updating databases and navigational charts, the spokesperson added.
In Congress last week, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Florida), who represents part of Palm Beach County, introduced a parallel federal bill that would also rename the airport and make its new codifier “DJT.”
Trump, who rose to fame as a New York City business titan, changed his residency to Florida during his first term. Trump on Monday unveiled the first images of his planned presidential library towering over downtown Miami, featuring two gold statues of himself.
The president has not publicly remarked on the renaming, and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning. His son Eric Trump in a Monday post on X thanked the “overwhelming majority” of Florida legislators who backed the change.
For the past year, Trump, his administration and his allies have brought or proposed bringing his brand to federal buildings, arts institutions and other cultural landmarks in the country to the chagrin of Democrats and others who view the efforts as vain or even illegal. Trump has also suggested that he wants to put his name on Virginia’s Dulles International Airport.
Renaming the Palm Beach airport will cost $2.7 million, Florida state Rep. Daryl Campbell (D) said in an explanation of his voteagainst the bill.
“It caters to the whim of one part-time Palm Beach County resident who is far more focused on himself than the American people,” Campbell said.
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