Trump Wants An Airport Renamed After Him While His Company Trademarks Those Same Names

from the the-grift-that-keeps-on-grifting dept

Remember how Donald Trump was going to “drain the swamp” as president? The idea, spilling out from his first campaign for president, was that Washington was horribly corrupt, that politicians and unelected government stooges were making money from their positions of power, and that even politician’s families were in on the grift. The only reason I am aware of a name like Burisma is because Trump and his sycophants screamed about it as an example of how Biden’s family was corruptly making money by utilizing Joe Biden’s time as vice president for influence.

But, if there was a grift going on there, at least the Biden’s had enough shame to try to hide it. The same people who were up in arms over Burisma and other such claims have been remarkably silent on the far more obvious and in your face grifting that Trump is doing. Our president appears to look at the tax coffers as his own personal piggy bank, constantly dreaming up reasons why your tax money should find its way into his pockets. He wanted $10 billion in taxpayer money because his tax returns leaked. He wants $230 million because he was tried for his criminal behavior. He guided billions in taxpayer money to his pet supporter Elon Musk. And, because the corruption must be as naked as possible, agencies under his executive umbrella would be the ones approving all of this redistribution of taxpayer wealth into his own personal bank accounts.

It hasn’t stopped and the latest attempted grift is absolute stunning in how brazen it is. You may have heard that Trump is attempting to strong-arm several local governments into renaming an airport after him. It started with Dulles International Airport outside of Washington DC, with Trump reportedly holding millions in approved federal infrastructure funds hostage if he didn’t get his way. He has no authority to do this with congressionally approved funds, of course, but that isn’t stopping him. The state government in Florida raced to be first in line to lick Trump’s boots, unsurprisingly, with the state House voting to change the Palm Beach International Airport’s name to the President Donald J. Trump International Airport instead. That measure will now go before the state Senate, where it is likely to pass.

And while all of this was going on, an interesting thing happened: a private company that manages Trump’s intellectual property licensing filed for trademarks on the potential names for these airports.

The applications, submitted by DTTM Operations LLC on February 13 and 14, seek federal protection for the names:

1. ‘President Donald J. Trump International Airport’
2. ‘Donald J. Trump International Airport’
3. ‘DJT’

All three applications were filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on what is known as an “intent to use” basis. This is a filing strategy that allows applicants to stake a claim to a name before it is used in commerce.

As Josh Gerben notes in his post, this has simply never happened before. We’ve never witnessed an American president, while in office, have his private company proactively trademark the very names of a piece of government infrastructure that that same president was attempting to bring about. It’s an incredibly naked grift, in which an American president is clearly, unabashedly seeking to make money on the backs of taxpayers while purporting to do the people’s business.

I should be very clear: these are trademark filings that are completely unprecedented. Airport names almost always originate from the governmental body that owns or manages the facility. They are not owned or licensed by privately held entities.

Here, the filings were made by DTTM Operations LLC, the same entity that protects the Trump brand across hotels, consumer goods, and licensing ventures. That fact alone signals that this is not merely about honorary naming. It is about brand control.

The broader goods listed in the applications, such as clothing, luggage, and watches, are equally telling. Those categories are classic merchandise plays. If an airport were renamed, the trademark filings would allow DTTM Operations to control and monetize branded merchandise associated with the location.

The intent is obvious: create a licensing structure such that the American government will need to pay licensing fees to Trump’s business in perpetuity. There is no other reasonable explanation for this sequence of events. And it appears to be going on without any serious comment from the very same people who whined about what a swamp Washington had become.

Your money is not Trump’s personal piggy bank. Or, rather, it shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, those who ought to be clapping back on all of this are either in on the grift, or perfectly willing to allow it to occur.

Filed Under: airports, corruption, donald trump, dulles, palm beach international, trademark

Companies: dttm operations, trump organization