It was a simple change to a controversial bill aimed at renaming Palm Beach International Airport after Donald Trump: neither the President nor anyone else can profit from it through royalties, licensing, or trademark fees.
Republicans unanimously shot it down.
Miami Gardens Sen. Shevrin Jones, who just won a race to be Senate Democratic Leader in 2028, filed amendments to impose the restriction. He pointed to new reporting that a company controlling Trump’s intellectual property portfolio, DTTM Operations LLC, had filed three trademark applications to reserve his name for use as the brand of an airport.
The applications seek federal protections for “Donald J. Trump International Airport,” “DJT,” and “President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” the proposed new name of the South Florida hub.
They were filed on an “intent to use” basis, with claims for rights on merchandise from clothes, jewelry and watches to handbags, luggage and accessories like tie clips. Normally, airports and their names are owned by their controlling government entities. The Trump company’s unprecedented move would privatize the airport’s licensing.
“This raises ethical concerns and questions regarding the intersection of when we’re looking at public infrastructure and private brand ownership,” Jones said while introducing his amendments Tuesday.
“This is not about honoring the President. This is about generating revenue from a public entity for a private company, a company with Donald Trump’s interest at the helm, and not the people of the state of Florida.”
Every GOP member of the Senate Rules Committee voted against Jones’ amendments before voting to approve the underlying bill (SB 706) by Melbourne Sen. Debbie Mayfield.
Jones previously voted for the bill, too, but said Tuesday that he no longer has the “appetite or gut” to support the legislation after Trump posted a racist video last week depicting former President and First Lady Barack and Michelle Obama as gorillas.
Trump blamed the post, which drew bipartisan rebukes, on an unnamed “staffer.” He removed the video, but has not apologized for sharing it.
Jones called on his Republican colleagues to join him in holding Trump accountable by not rewarding him with the airport renaming.
“You say that you are allies. But I need you to be accomplices to the Black community,” he said.
“This (has) nothing to do with party (or) race. This has everything to do with the state of Florida figuring out what our litmus test is going to be when we say (what) enough is enough is supposed to be. I would think members, that this is where enough stops.”
Sen. Rosalind Osgood, who represents part of Palm Beach, said public honors should reward high standards of character, unity and respect — all of which Trump has failed to reach with his comments about women, his political foes and critics.
“Leadership requires disagreement without degradation,” she said. “Public monuments should symbolize statesmanship, not personal insult.”
Senate Democratic Leader Lori Berman of Boynton Beach noted that Palm Beach County voted against Trump in the 2024 Election and that neither its voters nor its elected local leaders asked for the renaming.
She called the trademark news “very troubling.”
Mayfield repeated Trump’s excuse for posting the video, which she described as “unfortunate,” and said any money the President would make off of licensing fees wouldn’t come from Palm Beach taxpayers.
And it’s undeniable, she said, that Trump has done great things for the U.S.
“You cannot disagree with the fact that he has done some remarkable things for our country,” she said. “He has put our country back as first, America first. He has appointed some great people, (like) Secretary of State Marco Rubio, (who) has addressed the horrific things that are happening to humans around the country and around the world.”
SB 706 will next go to the Senate floor, where it is expected to be taken up alongside its House companion, which faces a floor vote Tuesday.