Congressional Republicans want to rename Washington Dulles International Airport for Donald Trump. Western Pennsylvania Congressman Guy Reschenthaler is soliciting colleagues to join him as co-sponsor of legislation.
My guess is that heading into a one-seat margin in the House, and without control of the Senate, Republicans will not be successful in 2024. However the outcome of fall elections could change this in the next Congress.
MAX MEYER EXCLUSIVE:
Trump has a stock ticker DJT and may soon have an airport code, too. GOP House aides are circulating a bill to rename Washington Dulles Airport as Donald J. Trump International Airport.
PA Rep. Guy Reschenthaler is sponsoring the bill. pic.twitter.com/7VmRqcCJRw
— Max Meyer (@mualphaxi) March 27, 2024
In 1998, Congress renamed DC’s National airport for Ronald Reagan. Democrats at the time tried to stave this off by renaming Dulles for Reagan instead, on the thinking that at least Dulles was already named after a Republican.
Dulles airport was originally supposed to be in Burke, Virginia (chosen over Fairfax) and the federal government began buying land. However, local residents objected. So the government condemned homes and appropriated land in the predominantly African American neighborhood of Willard instead.
During development, the airport was known colloquially as “Chantilly Airport.” President Kennedy’s FAA administrator announced it would be simply, “Washington International Airport” trying to head off the naming after former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles.
However Washington Dulles International Airport opened November 17, 1962 as Dulles International Airport, dedicated by President John F. Kennedy with former President Dwight D. Eisenhower in attendance in attendance. Earlier legislation renamed Dulles International Airport to Washington Dulles International Airport, because it was being confused with Dallas.
John Foster Dulles was Eisenhower’s Secretary of State, known for brinksmanship; “agonizing reappraisal” of the United States’ commitment to European defense if European countries did not contribute more significantly to their own defense through NATO; “massive retaliation” where any act of aggression by the Soviet Union or its allies would be met with overwhelming force, including the use of nuclear weapons; and “unleashing” Chiang Kai-shek to resume military operations against the Communist People’s Republic of China to retake the mainland.
His younger brother Allan Welsh Dulles was CIA Director from 1953 through 1961, and oversaw the overthrow of Iranian Prime Minister Mossadegh in 1953 and Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz in 1954. He was also responsible for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961.
In 2015, while Trump was running for President, the FAA renamed waypoints “DONLD” “TRMMP” and “UFIRD” in South Florida. People were already refusing to fly those departures years earlier. Meanwhile, Trump’s current Presidential campaign uses throwaway ticketing to save money.
Love President Trump and want him back.
But this is a bad idea. I don’t think politicians should be named after any government building or highway unless they use their own honestly earned money. Politicians spend the taxpayers money and expect accolades. No thanks.
I had to check the calendar to see if April 1st had snuck up on me.
Then I realized this porposed bill is “plane” idiocy.
The “Do Nothing” congressional Republicans can’t pass any meaningful legislation, but they can find time to try and rename IAD after one of the worst presidents in history? This a contest to see which Republican can crawl up Trump’s nether region the farthest.
This effort seems awfully shortsighted. I’m sure the trolls will have plenty of comments on this but unless IAD wants to lose passengers by choosing an intentionally divisive name the airport authority should make clear that it’s better to leave things as they are.
I sincerely hope not!
Most useless congress ever.
Just as we who live in DC call DCA that or “National” so will we refer to IAD as that or Dulles. Done.
Just like Trump to want an airport named after him while he is still alive. Not that he would deserve it if he were already deceased, but what chutzpah.
Real leaders rise to the top and inspire others. That’s why eventually
Sheremetyevo International Airport (Moscow) will be renamed
Alexei Navalny International Airport. It’s just a matter of time.
Do it! If anything, just to piss off liberals and to make MWAA spend millions on signage. The people of the region deserve nothing less.
Well IAD is an atrocious airport, so the fit is good – lol
Meanwhile, Democrats are planning to rename the facility in Kansas to U.S. Penitentiary Trump.
As a Washingtonian I can assure you this will not only never happen but will be laughed out of town just like his hotel.
Instead we should rename the great Rotunda in honor of the police officers who died as a result of the Insurrection on January 6th. As a reminder of what defending freedom really looks like.
Trump having staffers using throwaway ticketing to save money just increased my opinion of Trump!
IAD is already named after well respected Secretary of State John Foster Dulles. It should remain. Trump can always lobby to have PBI named after him. LIT was renamed after Clinton.
Actually, too many airports are named after recent presidents. These should stop…IAH, LIT, etc. One exception might be Hartsfield, later Hartsfield Jackson, might be named after Jimmy Carter a few years after he dies. Fort Wayne should be renamed to its former name, Baer Field. MKE should be renamed back to its old name, General Mitchell Field or General Mitchell International Airport.
The people who want this are the same ones who probably believe that LIT has a secret basement where children are being kept prisoner for notorious purposes.
I say we go tit for tat on this one. They can have Dulles renamed after Mango Mussolini as long as O’Hare gets renamed after Obama. That should tick them off.
Trump International where the signs are in Cyrillic and you always get short changed
I had not heard that he died?
Thank god we in the UK won’t have Boris Johnson (Heathrow) International Airport
Or
Liz Truss National airport (LTN)
Oops poor Luton !
Has this country gone completely insane? Why would we want to name an airport after a criminal, masochist and insurrectionist? Absolutely disgusting.
No, no, no, no. No living person can be depicted on a US postage stamp, so no public buildings should be renamed after living people.
What does “UFIRD” have to do with Donald Trump? I don’t see any resemblance to his name.
Enough with naming airports after people, pass a law to end this nonsense and be done with it.
Michael Mainello : Bet you are a big fan of Adolf Hitler & Vlad Putin as well.
“Don The Con” Trump needs to be arrested, tried, convicted and jailed for his never-ending list of crimes against America, working-class folks, women, children, workers, sub-contractors and minorities.
The only thing suitable to be named after Trump is a federal prison.
Don’t know which is worse, commercial naming rights for stadiums, or airports named after not so great politicians…
In all honesty, I’d take ‘IAD Airport, sponsored by Capital One’ than a DJT Airport
@Joshua K – The Apprentice
@Helen Porche
See: Bill and Hillary Clinton Airport in Little Rock or Harry Reid Airport in Las Vegas
The precedent has already been set…
We really need to stop naming airports and all facilities in general after politicians…until they’ve been dead at least a decade.
We should rename waypoints in South Florida near MAL as :
OBMAA, BRACK, BIDEN, GOBRN & AMJOE
#VoteDemocrat 2024
No way!
They have finally gone over the edge…
This says it best..
Picard
https://youtu.be/ls19kYbpKa8
He would expect to be paid for the naming rights.
@ Gary — Why anyone loves the idea of having a cocaine-snorting, adulterous, lying, cheating, racist, ugly, disgusting human being as president is beyond me. This is what our poor education system gets us. I guess once these idiots lose their rights to abortions, marrying the person they love, health insurance, voting, freedom of speech, not being shot by their neighbor for holding a different opinion or having a different religion, etc., it will be too late.
MDGA!
Make Dulles Great Again!
@ Gene : MAGA Morons are what America gets when it allows in-breeding, and where dating your first cousin (in red states) is considered “normal”.. 🙂
STOP SOUTHERN @GOP INBREEDING : #UseBirthControl #VoteDemocrat
Oh this will be amazing simply to watch all the purple hair nose ring crowd getting triggered!
I understand why the GOP would do this.
There is no Republican Party.
There is only Trump.
After Trump is gone, the one thing we all will remember is the cowardice of the people that went along.
DavefromBoca,
I have long been critical of Trump, and that is from even long before Trump was up in arms about Obama. But Trump is really a symptom of a socio-political dynamic in the country (and the world) that increasingly has people voting based on culture issues and class identity rather than on economic self-interest. This is why It’s no coincidence that Trump is likely to see a higher percentage of support from African-American and Hispanic-American male voters in November — if Trump is still mobile — than has been the case for any Republican nominee for President in at least the last 60 years.
The only place that I think we should be naming after Trump is a prison where he deserves to go upon being found guilty in a court of law.
Waste of time. Zero chance of being approved in the Senate. No airport should be named for a living politician anyway.
@ Gary — You know, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. If you have to name something after this idiot, there are probably few places more appropriate than the big, fat disater that IAD is.
starting to throw up now
Rename airports after Republicans today, and when the Democrats are in a position to do so they’ll rename them after Democrats. Imagine O’Hare changed to Obama International.
The name Dulles has been confused with Dallas since the day the airport was opened. As a child, my mother said we would be flying thru Dulles. I was under the impression we were going to Six Flags in Texas!!
Trump is not appropriate. Pick Obama, or FDR, or Truman or someone else; but not Trump.
The only thing they should name after him is a TURD !
They failed putting his likeness on Mount Rushmore so renaming an airport is a consolidation prize. Will he demand money for using his name?
Rules for naming public buildings and facilities should be,
1. Absolutely no renaming allowed. To paraphrase a racist politician “you didn’t build that”. If you want to name something after someone, you have to have skin in the game and have built a new facility or building.
2. Naming after people will be allowed when they have been dead for 5 years or more
This is a stupid post. It will Never be named after him.
Will Carol Burnett have to come up with a different song?
Over my dead body!
Hey…maybe they can name the terminals after each one of his indictments? And the gates…after each one of his counts.
Imagine your boarding pass…Terminal – Election Interference…boarding at 9:15 from Gate -Conspiracy to defraud the U.S.
@TravelWarr
How about the Stormy Daniels terminal??? Adults only please!!