NewsMacroNew 'Wish List' Details Trump's Unfulfilled Plans to Put His Name and Face Across the U.S.

New 'Wish List' Details Trump's Unfulfilled Plans to Put His Name and Face Across the U.S.

Author: Alternet·

Key Takeaways

  • •The Atlantic organized Trump's branding efforts into completed items, projects in progress, and a wish list of proposals that have not come close to fruition.
  • •Completed efforts include banners featuring Trump's face on federal buildings in Washington and the addition of his name to the Institute of Peace, with a Kennedy Center naming attempt still underway.
  • •Trump has described being added to Mount Rushmore as a "dream," a sentiment he expressed to then-Congresswoman Kristi Noem during a 2018 Oval Office visit.
  • •Trump reportedly wants the planned Washington Commanders stadium and Dulles Airport renamed in his honor, and reportedly threatened to withhold stadium funding unless the team reverted to the "Washington Redskins" name.
  • •White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to confirm the stadium naming rumor but remarked that it would be a beautiful name.
New 'Wish List' Details Trump's Unfulfilled Plans to Put His Name and Face Across the U.S.

President Donald Trump has placed his name and face on a growing range of official properties, and a new "wish list" of unfulfilled ideas compiled by The Atlantic indicates that his ambitions are far from finished.

In a piece published Tuesday morning, The Atlantic catalogued the ways Trump has broken presidential norms by pushing to have his own image displayed across Washington, D.C., and the United States at large. The report traces this drive to his career as a publicity-focused real estate figure who "has been putting his name on buildings since before most Americans were born."

The Atlantic organized its examples into three categories. The first lists completed items, including the many banners bearing his face affixed to federal buildings in Washington and the addition of his name to the Institute of Peace. The second, labeled "in the works," most notably includes his ongoing attempt to add his name to The Kennedy Center in some form. The third is a "wish list" of ideas that have been suggested but have not come close to fruition.

"Trump — and those in his orbit looking to flatter him — will almost certainly propose more places for his name and face to appear," The Atlantic explained. "The president could grow dissatisfied with having his name on just one airport, especially one that serves fewer than 10 million people a year. Or the new football stadium coming to Washington might grab his attention. And, of course, there is his obsession with being on Mount Rushmore. Many ideas that seemed improbable when they were first introduced have since been carried out."

The most striking item on the wish list is Trump's "obsession" with adding his face to Mount Rushmore, which he reportedly called a "dream" of his when then-Congresswoman Kristi Noem first visited him in the Oval Office in 2018. During a recent trip to the landmark, cookies featuring Trump as a fifth face to the right of Abraham Lincoln were served on Air Force One.

"Last fall, ESPN reported, Trump was telling people privately that he wants the planned new [Washington] Commanders stadium in D.C. to be named after him," the report detailed. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt would not confirm the rumor, but she told the outlet, "That would be a beautiful name."

Reports also suggested that Trump threatened to withhold public funds for the stadium if the team did not revert to the name "Washington Redskins," a name that was criticized for decades as insensitive to Native Americans.

"The airports named after John F. Kennedy (in New York), Ronald Reagan (near D.C.), and George H. W. Bush (in Houston) may be serving as inspiration," the report continued. "(Nevermind, of course, that each of those airports was renamed after each president had died or left office.) As Dulles Airport, in Northern Virginia, prepares for a major renovation, Trump has told people that he wants the international hub renamed after him, ABC News reported; there's a bill ready to be resuscitated that would do just that."

The pattern matters beyond the novelty of the proposals: these are public venues and federally tied landmarks, so any change would extend Trump's branding into spaces that are meant to represent the government, the capital, and nationally shared infrastructure. That is part of what makes the reporting notable for observers tracking how far Trump is willing to push personal branding into official settings, and it also helps explain why even ideas that once seemed unlikely keep resurfacing as he continues to test the boundaries of presidential symbolism.