Florida airport renamed ‘Trump’ in latest push to expand his brand

WEST PALM BEACH: A Florida airport was renamed after Donald Trump on Thursday, accelerating a push by the US president and supporters to plaster his name and image on everything from national landmarks to banknotes.

The Republican leader’s son Eric celebrated by landing in the private family Boeing 757 – the so-called “Trump Force One” – at what had been known as Palm Beach International Airport for nearly half a century.

“A beautiful day,” a grinning Eric Trump said on Fox News at the newly minted President Donald J. Trump International Airport, a short drive from the family’s Mar-a-Lago golf resort and compound.

The airport renaming was signed into law by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.

“I don’t think there’s anybody more synonymous with Palm Beach than Donald Trump and maybe all of Florida,” Eric Trump said.

He pointed out that the main road leading out of the airport is already called “President Donald J. Trump Boulevard”.

And now anyone flying into Palm Beach will have a ticket where “you’re going to see ‘DJT’ in perpetuity”.

Travellers at the airport Thursday were divided on the name change.

Corporate pilot Chris Bailey welcomed the switch, telling AFP that Trump has “certainly done enough to warrant the name of an airport.”

But some were hostile.

“Palm Beach is a better brand. People don’t really like Donald Trump,” John Manov, a doctor, said. “It seems in poor taste.”

Banknotes, buildings, bridge

Breaking the long-held US tradition against celebrating living figures – and particularly serving presidents – on currency and buildings, the Trump name and image are spreading rapidly.

Officials, including US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, unveiled the new Donald J. Trump Bridge in Tennessee on Thursday.

“The Tennessee licence plate used to have a sign on it, or a little motto that said, ‘Follow me to Tennessee’,” Bessent said. “Now, everyone who follows those cars is going to go across the Donald J. Trump Bridge on the I-40.”

Washington already features the renamed Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace and giant posters with his face have been hung from the facades of major government buildings.

Trump’s name was also briefly imposed on the famous Kennedy Center performing arts venue in the capital before a judge ruled this illegal.

In addition, there are Trump-branded visa, medical and other official government programmes.

His image is due to appear on some US passports and already appears on passes to National Parks. An entire “Trump class” of naval ships has been announced.

In yet another first, Trump’s signature will appear on US dollar notes later this year, the Treasury says.

Critics liken the spread of the Trump brand to cults of personality usually seen in authoritarian countries and dictatorships.

Eric Trump denied there was anything wrong with the airport renaming, telling Fox News that “anything that bears our name is slightly controversial”.

Asked about how the president feels to have the Florida airport named after him, Eric Trump said he was “honoured” and “humbled”.