WINNING: Florida Taxpayers Spend $5.5 Million Renaming Airport After President Whose Family Just Trademarked His Name On Umbrellas
The Trump Organization says it will take no royalty on the renaming, and has chosen a dignified silence on the flight suits.
PALM BEACH—In a first for the republic, a sitting president’s family business has moved to trademark his name on airports — and, with the foresight of true patriots, on the umbrellas, travel bags, and flight suits found inside them — even as Florida taxpayers cheerfully absorb the $5.5 million cost of renaming Palm Beach International in his honor.
The renaming, which took effect July 9, carries an estimated price tag of $5.5 million, with $2.75 million drawn straight from the state budget. Patriots agree this is a small sum to pay for the privilege of one day departing from a gate that finally bears the correct name.
In February, the Trump Organization filed to trademark the president’s name not only on airports but on the shuttle buses, travel bags, umbrellas, and flight suits within them — a maneuver trademark attorneys noted no sitting president’s company has attempted in the entire history of the United States, presumably because no previous president loved airport retail this deeply.
Is the president bilking the taxpayer? The Organization says it will collect no royalty on the renaming itself. On the separate questions of whether it might charge for the next airport, or for the umbrellas, it has offered only the dignified silence of a man who has clearly thought about it. Critics call this a conflict of interest. Supporters call it a man who simply refuses to leave money on the tarmac.
Whether it amounts to self-dealing or merely the American dream with a boarding pass, one thing is beyond dispute: no head of state in recorded history has ever prepared this thoroughly to sell you an umbrella.
