By Chris Walker
This article was originally published by Truthout
The Trump Organization filed a trademark application on the name “Trump International Airport” last week.
The Florida State Legislature is moving forward with renaming an airport after Donald Trump – a potentially lucrative development for the president and his family members.
Republican lawmakers announced earlier this year their intention to change the name of Palm Beach International Airport to Donald J. Trump International Airport. State Sen. Debbie Mayfield (R), a staunch supporter of the president, explained last month that the change would recognize Trump as the first-ever Floridian president — even though Trump, who lived in New York for most of his life, only moved to Florida late in his first term in office.
“I think it’s very appropriate for us to be naming one of the other icons in Palm Beach County after him,” Mayfield said at the time.
The measure passed the Republican-dominated state House of Representatives on Tuesday by a vote of 81-30. Democrats who were opposed to the bill noted it was unusual to bestow honors like these for sitting lawmakers, including presidents. Some also said that Trump wasn’t deserving of the honor.
“The [Trump] legacy that I’ve seen so far has left me wanting,” state Rep. Ashley Gantt (D) said.
“Leadership requires disagreement without degradation. Public monuments should symbolize statesmanship, not personal insult,” state Sen. Rosalind Osgood (D) opined.
Others noted that the Trump Organization, the company Trump still has ownership stake in alongside his family, filed a trademark last week for the phrase “DONALD J. TRUMP INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT” and variations of it.
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization said he and his family “will not receive any royalty, licensing fee, or financial consideration whatsoever from the proposed airport renaming.” However, a closer examination of the trademark application shows the Trump Organization could benefit from licensing the name for goods and services, including watches, clocks, jewelry, clothing, restaurants, and other collectibles. The application also includes claims to rights of any airport baggage check-in areas, airport construction, and the “plastic slippers used in the airport environment when going through security to keep feet and socks clean.”
The application suggests that, even if the Trump family didn’t profit from the airport itself, they could profit from the selling of items inside the airport, or even elsewhere.
“There could be a whole market at the airport, or even off the airport premises. [The] Trump Org would own the trademark and be able to license that name to anybody that was making and selling that merchandise,” trademark attorney Josh Gerben said in comments to CNN.
Democratic lawmakers said they were concerned Trump was attempting to make money off the name change, and that state Republicans were helping him do it.
“It feels like the grift is happening,” House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell (D) said.
State Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat who initially supported the airport name change, said he was changing his mind over concerns about the Trump family profiting off the renaming of the airport, as well as Trump’s recent racist posting on his Truth Social website.
“This is about generating revenue from a public entity or a private company, a company with Donald Trump’s interest at the helm, and not the people of the state of Florida,” Jones said.
“No president, Democrat or Republican, should be able to benefit” from a name change like this, he added.
Jones offered an amendment to the Senate version of the bill that would forbid Trump or his family members from personally profiting from the airport’s new name. That amendment was voted down in committee by a unanimous group of Republicans, and the bill could be given a vote in the Senate later this week. Republican Gov. Ron DeSantisis likely to sign the bill into law.
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