Saparmurat Niyazov, dictator of Turkmenistan from 1991 to 2006, had a penchant for naming things after himself and his family, including rebranding January after himself, April after his mother and September after his favourite book. Is America’s own carrot-coloured Caligula planning something similar?
In December last year, having sacked all its directors and replaced them with its own, who duly elected him chairman, Trump renamed the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the US’s national cultural centre, after himself.
The Donald J Trump and The John F Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, as it is now called has since, alas, closed down for two years for “Construction, Revitalization, and Complete Rebuilding”, as the president put it with his trademark capitalisation, and not at all because pull-outs caused by the new name left it without enough acts to mount a 2026–27 season.
That was followed in January by Trump renaming a road near his private club in Palm Beach, Florida, President Donald J Trump Avenue. Trump said he was “tremendously honoured” by the recognition, despite the idea coming, er, from Donald J Trump. Other things which have had Trump’s name attached to them since the president returned to office include a proposed new class of Navy warships, a visa initiative for affluent foreign nationals, a government-run prescription drug website and federal savings accounts for children.
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But now Trump has set his heights (literally) higher: filing three trademark applications that would reserve his name for use as the brand of an airport.
Three applications have just been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on what is known as an “intent to use” basis. This is a strategy which allows applicants to stake a claim to a name before it is used in commerce. The applications, submitted by DTTM Operations LLC on February 13 and 14, seek federal protection for the names ‘President Donald J Trump International Airport’, ‘Donald J Trump International Airport’ and ‘DJT’.
Media reports in the US suggest that Trump is interested in renaming major airports after himself, including Washington’s Dulles International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport in Florida. The applications were filed by DTTM Operations, his private intellectual property holding company which owns a vast portfolio of trademarks spanning hotels, residential towers and a range of licensed consumer products.
While many presidents have had landmarks named in their honour, a sitting president’s private company has never in the history of the US sought trademark rights in advance of such naming. The applications mean that if an airport authority were to adopt the name ‘President Donald J Trump International Airport,’ DTTM Operations would now need to license the mark to that authority, no doubt charging a whopping fee. Ker-ching!
The only way around this, of course, is for an airport not to want to name itself after the preposterous man-baby. Unless, of course, Trump is planning on buying one?
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