Photo: Mitchell Layton/Getty Images
The Trump administration continues to officially push to change the name of New York’s iconic Penn Station in midtown Manhattan — and you’ll never guess which historically unpopular current American president they may try to rename it after.
In a new letter to congressional members, Transportation secretary Sean Duffy laid out the administration’s priorities for transportation projects nationwide including the planned 2027 groundbreaking on the $8 million renovation of Penn Station, a joint project between the U.S. Department of Transportation and Amtrak. The letter was addressed to the Republican chairmen and Democratic ranking members of three Senate committees: Environment and Public Works; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
On the massive transit hub, Duffy wrote that Penn Station will be “re-built into a brand-new, world-class station” and called on Congress to authorize several changes to make that goal possible, including the passage of the controversial McDowell amendment, which experts say expands Amtrak’s eminent-domain powers and allows the company to acquire nearby properties as a way of generating revenue. But tucked in among Duffy’s proposals regarding legislation and financial grants, there was also a request to Congress to “direct Amtrak to rename New York Penn Station.”
Duffy notably stopped short of suggesting any potential new names for the station. But the secretary has previously signaled approval for forever linking Donald Trump with New York City’s mediocre regional train service. At a press conference last year in August, where Duffy and Amtrak executive Andy Byford revealed the accelerated timeline for the Penn Station remodel, Duffy addressed the possibility of renaming the station after Trump.
“I imagine you’re asking, ‘Is this going to be Trump Station?’” Duffy said at the time. “I think that has a nice ring to it.”
It’s been reported that Trump — who really likes having his name on things — has also floated becoming the new namesake of Penn Station. In February, CNN reported that the president told Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he would release the stalled funding for the Gateway Tunnel project in exchange for renaming both Penn Station and Washington, D.C.’s Dulles International Airport after him — a proposal the New York senator rejected. Trump later claimed it was Schumer who made the suggestion to him.
Reports of the federal government’s renaming push was met with swift condemnation from the state’s congressional delegation. Representative Jerry Nadler, who serves on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said that Duffy’s letter confirmed that Trump is “waging a hostile takeover of Penn Station.”
“I strongly oppose this ridiculous proposal and am once again demanding answers on the funding,” Nadler wrote on social media. “This will be one of the most expensive projects in the country, yet the administration still has not disclosed how it will be funded or who will pay the bill. New York taxpayers and transit riders must not be forced to foot the bill for a Trump vanity project.”
Schumer issued his own statement, writing, “Penn Station needs to be rebuilt for the millions of commuters who use it, not rebranded to satisfy Trump’s bottomless ego. Secretary Duffy should stop scheming to flatter the president and start delivering the safe, modern station New Yorkers deserve.”
Should such efforts to oppose a Trump renaming fail, New Yorkers may also have to reckon with to “34th Street–Trump Station” on the subway every day.
Though Trump’s haphazard attempt to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., after himself was ultimately struck down by a federal judge, Florida lawmakers succeeded in naming the state’s airport in Palm Beach, which neighbors Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, after the president earlier this month. To get from Mar-a-Lago to President Donald J. Trump International Airport, you can take President Donald J. Trump Boulevard, and when you get there, you may soon be able to flash your commemorative Trump passport to the TSA. If you fly to D.C., be sure to visit the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace and swing by the White House gift shop where you might be able to pick up the U.S. mint’s new gold-colored $1 commemorative Trump coin. If your flight is delayed by several years, you might even be able to see one of the U.S. Navy’s new “golden fleet” of Trump-class battleships under construction in Virginia.
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