Self-Promotion is “Not a Good Look”
President Trump seems to be bound and determined to make America in his image. He is trying to name as many things as possible after himself that it sometimes looks like his real goal is to change the name of the country. Listed below are those things that have already been renamed and others that are pending.
Dulles Airport and Penn Station
Currently pending is the renaming of Washington Dulles Airport and New York Penn Station. According to a story on Axios, House Democrats reacted with swift fury last Thursday over reports that President Trump floated renaming Dulles Airport and Penn Station after himself in exchange for unfreezing $16 billion in funds for the Gateway Development Project.
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), whose New York City district would also be affected by the project, said in a statement to Axios, “Trump is pathologically petty and cannot be trusted to keep his word. “There is no point in yielding to his ever-changing ransom demands,” he added.
Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.), who partially represents Dulles, said in a statement to Axios: “Instead of lowering costs, President Trump is holding critical infrastructure funding hostage for more vanity projects.”
Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), who represents Penn Station and the New York side of the Gateway project, said in a post on X that Trump is “once again attempting to extend his extortion racket.”
Peace Through Bullying?
In addition to renaming the Kennedy Center, which requires an act of Congress, the U.S. Institute of Peace was rebranded as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. Ironically, the statement from the White House accompanying the change in name of the Institute is that the renaming is meant to honor the president’s work during his second term. Does Trump realized he bombed Iran, absconded with the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro (talk about regime change), and bombed or seized ships on the open water?
Recently, the US military boarded an oil tanker after tracking it for thousands of miles from the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, according to the Department of Defense. US officials said the ship -named Aquila II – was operating in defiance of a US “quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean”. “It ran, and we followed”, the department said on social media, adding that “by land, air, or sea, our Armed Forces will find you and deliver justice”.
Forces boarded and inspected the ship, officials said. At least seven oil tankers have been seized by the US since last year, as the Trump administration moves to control the supply of Venezuelan oil, the country’s main economic resource.
National Park Passes
The Interior Department last November unveiled the 2026 America the Beautiful National Park passes, which features side-by-side images of George Washington and Trump to commemorate America’s 250th anniversary. The use of an image of Trump on the 2026 pass — rather than the usual picture of nature — has sparked a backlash, sticker protests, and a lawsuit from a conservation group. The $80 annual America the Beautiful pass gives visitors access to more than 2,000 federal recreation sites. Since 2004, the pass has typically showcased sweeping landscapes or iconic wildlife, selected through a public photo contest. Past winners have featured places like Arches National Park in Utah and images of bison roaming the plains.
Photos circulating online show that many national park cardholders have covered the image of Trump’s face with stickers of wildlife, landscapes, and yellow smiley faces, while some have completely blocked out the whole card. The backlash has also inspired a growing sticker campaign.
Jenny McCarty, a longtime park volunteer and graphic designer, began selling custom stickers meant to fit directly over Trump’s face — with 100% of proceeds going to conservation nonprofits. “We made our first donation of $16,000 in December,” McCarty said. “The power of community is incredible.”
McCarty says the sticker movement is less about politics and more about preserving the neutrality of public lands. “The Interior’s new guidance only shows they continue to disregard how strongly people feel about keeping politics out of national parks,” she said.
Financial Transactions
Why not sell your name, Mr. President?
The administration is starting to process applications from parents with children born between 2025 and 2028 to receive $1,000 from the Treasury Department to deposit into “Trump accounts.” The idea is to pull more Americans into the stock market and promote the idea of attainable wealth for lower-income Americans—while also allowing him to promote the initiative as a personal achievement. The administration says that the tax-advantaged savings and investment accounts are intended to create “trust funds” for every eligible American child.
This is ill-advised as best. How can Trump even consider it given that recent forecasts of US debt are that it will hit $64 trillion, with a “t”, in a decade as Trump’s policies widen the deficit.
The Treasury Department has made plans for a $1 coin bearing Trump’s likeness for the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Critics have questioned whether existing laws permit currency featuring living presidents, but the U.S. Mint proceeded with the designs anyway.
Trump Military Equipment
Last December, Trump announced plans for a new class of U.S. Navy warships named “Trump-class” battleships. Described as large, heavily armed vessels, they are intended to be the “most lethal surface combatant ever constructed”. These plans, which included personal involvement in the design, have faced criticism regarding the military utility of battleships. The announcement followed the unveiling early last year of a new fighter, designated the F-47 (Trump is the 47th president).
So much for the peace president!
There is more. While there is no official name for the East Wing White House ballroom Trump is building, ABC reported in October that ingratiating staffers have taken to calling it “the President Donald J. Trump Ballroom.”
Then there’s the proposed Arc de Trump, later rebranded as the “Independence Arch,” a massive 250-foot-tall memorial that would be sandwiched in a grassy circle between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery.
What Does AI Say?
Sometimes, AI gets it right. I Googled: What Do You Call Someone Who Wants Buildings Named After Them. Here’s what it said, and its is right on point:
“A person who desires to have tangible things, such as buildings or institutions, named after themselves is often demonstrating traits related to materialism, specifically within the concept of the material self (as defined by William James, where possessions/named objects are seen as extensions of identity). This behavior is frequently driven by a need for social status, legacy-building, or self-enhancement, often linked to narcissism or a desire to combat insecurities through external validation.
Key psychological concepts associated with this behavior include:
- Material Self: The idea that a person’s identity is defined by the physical things they own or that are associated with them, including things named after them.
- Narcissism/Egotism: An inflated sense of self-importance and a craving for admiration, often leading to a desire to mark the world with one’s name.
- Legacy-Building/Symbolic Immortality: A desire to achieve a form of permanence or immortality by having one’s name attached to enduring physical structures.
- Implicit Egotism: A tendency to gravitate toward things that resemble oneself, which can extend to wanting the environment to reflect one’s name.
In summary, this behavior is best described as a form of narcissistic material self-extension or a quest for symbolic legacy, driven by a deep-seated need to validate one’s importance.”
I couldn’t have summarized it any better. The sad part of all of this renaming is once the Democrats get back into office, most, if not all, of the renamed buildings will revert back to their original names, I believe. What a waste of time and money!
Blog posted by Steven Mintz, Ph.D., professor Emeritus at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Check out Steve’s activities at: https://www.stevenmintzethics.com/, Read his blogs at: https://ethicssage.com/ and https://workplaceethicsadvice.com/.