PALM BEACH, Florida — An airport in Florida officially changed its name President Donald J. Trump International Airport on Thursday, accelerating a push by the US president and his supporters to plaster his name and image on national landmarks and banknotes.
Signs for the Palm Beach International Airport have been removed, while new signage goes up.
“Because an entire airport transformation doesn’t happen overnight, you’ll notice a combination of both our classic look and our new brand elements coexisting while traveling through the terminal over the next several weeks,” airport officials said in a Facebook post.
“This will soon be one of the Greatest and Most Spectacular Airports anywhere in the World!” Trump said in a Truth Social post late Thursday reacting to the change.
The first plane to arrive at the airport under its new name was “Trump Force One” shortly after 5 am. when the president’s son Eric celebrated by landing in the private family Boeing 757 at what had been known as Palm Beach International Airport for nearly half a century.
“A beautiful day,” a grinning Eric Trump said on Fox News at the newly minted President Donald J. Trump International Airport, a short drive from the family’s Mar-a-Lago golf resort and compound.
The airport renaming was signed into law by Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis.
“I don’t think there’s anybody more synonymous with Palm Beach than Donald Trump and maybe all of Florida,” Eric Trump said.
He pointed out that the main road leading out of the airport is already called “President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.”
And now anyone flying into Palm Beach will have a ticket where “you’re going to see ‘DJT’ in perpetuity.”
Travelers at the airport Thursday were divided on the name change.
Corporate pilot Chris Bailey welcomed the switch, telling AFP that Trump has “certainly done enough to warrant a name of an airport.”
But some were hostile.
“Palm Beach is a better brand. People don’t really like Donald Trump,” John Manov, a doctor, said. “It seems in poor taste.”
Breaking the long-held US tradition against celebrating living figures, particularly serving presidents, on currency and buildings, the Trump name and image are spreading rapidly.
Officials, including US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, unveiled the new Donald J. Trump Bridge in Tennessee on Thursday.
“The Tennessee license plate used to have a sign on it, or a little motto that said, ‘Follow me to Tennessee,’” Bessent said. “Now, everyone who follows those cars is going to go across the Donald J. Trump Bridge on the I-40.”
Washington already features the renamed Donald J. Trump United States Institute of Peace and giant posters with his face have been hung from the facades of major government buildings.
Trump’s name was also briefly imposed on the famous Kennedy Center performing arts venue in the capital, before a judge ruled this illegal.
In addition, there are Trump-branded visa, medical and other official government programs.
His image is due to appear on some US passports and already appears on passes to National Parks. An entire “Trump class” of naval ships has been announced.
In yet another first, Trump’s signature will appear on US dollar notes later this year, the Treasury says.
Critics liken the spread of the Trump brand to cults of personality usually seen in authoritarian countries and dictatorships.
Eric Trump denied there was anything wrong with the airport renaming, telling Fox News that “anything that bears our name is slightly controversial.”
Asked about how the president feels to have the Florida airport named after him, Eric Trump said he was “honored” and “humbled.”
Source: Saudi Gazette