After Donald Trump returned to the White House, an unhealthy competition emerged among many of his most sycophantic congressional allies. The goal was, apparently, to see who could go the furthest to impress the president with proposals to glorify him in the most outlandish ways possible.
Some championed legislation to create a $250 bill that would feature Trump’s face; others pushed a similar bill to put Trump’s face on $100 bills. Some tried to make Trump’s birthday a federal holiday, while others wanted to carve Trump’s face into Mount Rushmore. Some unveiled legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport after Trump, and others backed a bill to name the Washington, D.C., subway system after the president and his MAGA slogan.
While this might be difficult to believe, one House Republican even sponsored an actual bill to direct the National Institutes of Health to conduct research into “Trump derangement syndrome,” as if it were an actual ailment.
But these head-shaking proposals were all introduced in 2025, and now, as the midterm election cycle takes shape, the list of bills designed to venerate the incumbent president is still growing. The Hill reported:
Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R), who is in a tight reelection contest to keep his Senate seat, introduced legislation on Tuesday to dedicate a highway to President Trump.
“I am proud to introduce legislation to rename US Highway 287 as Interstate 47 in honor of our 47th President,” Cornyn wrote in a social media post. The highway is the second-longest U.S. route, spanning 1,791 miles from Choteau, Mont., to Port Arthur, Texas. GOP Sen. Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) co-sponsored the bill.
There’s no reason to believe the bill will pass, at least not anytime soon. But passage isn’t really the point.
There are just two weeks remaining before Texas’ Republican Senate runoff primary election, and by all appearances, Cornyn is in a very tight race against state Attorney General Ken Paxton. The GOP incumbent would no doubt love (and benefit from) a Trump endorsement, which has not yet arrived.
Indeed, on March 4, the president said he would “soon” issue an endorsement in the Texas race, adding that he expected the other candidate to drop out of the race after failing to receive his support. Intraparty scuttlebutt suggested that Cornyn would get the nod. More than two months later, however, a reporter asked whether he still intended to make an endorsement, and the president replied that he would make a decision “maybe relatively soon.”
Five days later, Cornyn unveiled his plan to rename an interstate highway to honor the president. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that’s not a coincidence.
As for the scope of the increasingly weird Trump glorification campaign, this seems like a good time to update the broader list:
U.S. currency: Trump recently announced plans to add his signature to U.S. dollars — a first for a sitting American president — which is not to be confused with plans for a massive, 3-inch commemorative gold coin featuring Trump’s face.
Renaming buildings: The president’s allies have already added Trump’s name to the Kennedy Center and the Institute of Peace. By some accounts, the president expects the proposed White House ballroom to bear his name too.
U.S. military: Plans to construct “Trump-class” battleships are underway, and the nation’s next-generation fighter jet is set to have an “F-47” designation in honor of him. (Trump is the nation’s 47th president.)
Passports: A few weeks ago, the State Department announced “specially designed U.S. passports” that would include Trump’s image, as well as the president’s signature in gold.
Training and standards: Training for incoming Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents was reduced from 50 days to 47 days in honor of Trump. (The accelerated training schedule is reportedly at an end, however.)
The airport in Florida: Just last month, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport after Trump. (The president wanted to change the name of Dulles International Airport, just outside Washington, D.C., to honor himself, and he was even prepared to execute an extortion scheme with Democratic officials to get his way. He had to settle for a much smaller airport.)
Banners: Giant fascistic banners featuring Trump’s face are currently covering the front of several government buildings, including the headquarters of the Labor, Agriculture and Justice departments. They were followed by the administration unveiling different banners around the nation’s capital that show the president in a hard hat alongside text that reads, “Thank you, President Trump.”
Accoutrement: The administration also launched “Trump Gold Cards,” “Trump Accounts,” “TrumpRx” and TrumpIRA.gov, while the National Park Service added Trump’s face to its park passes.
Domestic ambitions: Trump wants a new football stadium in Washington to be named after him, as well as New York City’s Penn Station.
International ambitions: Trump recently indicated that he wants and expects a statue to honor him in Venezuela. The Republican also said in January that it was “not too late” to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico (which he attempted to rename once already) to the “Gulf of Trump,” and he recently suggested the Strait of Hormuz should also be called the “Strait of Trump.”
Cornyn’s highway bill is as absurd as it is desperate, but it’s also part of an unsubtle pattern.
This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for “The Rachel Maddow Show,” the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He’s also the bestselling author of “Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans’ War on the Recent Past.”
Leave a Reply