The Blubber

Earlier this month, Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., introduced a bill requiring the U.S. Treasury to resume printing $500 bills, which would feature a portrait of Trump instead of the late President William McKinley. Gosar said the proposal aimed to draw attention to high inflation under Joe Biden.

In May, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., proposed a bill to award Trump the Congressional Gold Medal for his administration’s foreign policy achievements.

“They’re all trying to curry favor from the former president,” said Fred Upton, a Republican who represented southwest Michigan in the House for 26 years before retiring in 2023. “They want to be recognized by him.”

The real estate and reality TV billionaire has put his name on everything from skyscrapers to sneakers and Bibles, as well as a purported university that closed in 2010 and had to pay $25 million in restitution over fraud allegations.

Now, with a close presidential election approaching, some members of Congress are trying to place important national real estate under the Trump brand.

On June 14, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., introduced legislation to name the country’s coastal exclusive economic zone – an area of more than 4,383,000 square miles, larger than the total U.S. landmass – for the former president.

Meanwhile, a bill to rename Dulles International Airport for Trump is awaiting action by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. The Virginia airport is currently named for John Foster Dulles, who served as secretary of state under President Dwight D. Eisenhower during the early days of the Cold War.

In response to the airport proposal, Democrats introduced a bill in May to name the Miami Federal Correctional Institution for Trump, a sarcastic jab at his ongoing legal issues.