Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears ahead of the start of jury selection at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. Photo by Jabin Botsford | Pool/Getty Images
MAGA loyalists across the country are eager to pay fealty to President Donald Trump by attempting to put his name or likeness on U.S. currency, airports, roads and even Mt. Rushmore.
The Trump administration has made it clear that the president, who has a habit of plastering his name in huge letters across his real estate, values loyalty over all else.
But on Thursday, Arizona’s Senate Republicans couldn’t find the votes they needed to recommend that State Route 260, which runs through rural areas between Cottonwood and Show Low, be renamed “Donald J. Trump Highway.”
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Senate Concurrent Memorial 1001, sponsored by MAGA die-hard Sen. Wendy Rogers, of Flagstaff, would have urged the State Board on Geographic and Historic Names to rename the highway that runs through Rogers’ district after Trump.
But one Senate Republican, Frank Carroll, of Sun City West, voted against the proposal, resulting in its failure on a 15-9 vote. Republican Sen. Shawna Bolick was absent from the vote. But because memorials don’t have the power of law, even if Carroll or Bolick had voted for the proposal, the renaming would remain merely a suggestion.
Carroll said that many of his constituents would love to see a highway named after Trump, who he predicted would “be recorded in history as the greatest president in the 21st century.” But the proper time to do that would be after Trump had completed his second term, Carroll explained.
Rogers, who can often be seen around the Capitol showing off her gold Donald Trump sneakers that retail for $399, promised to continue proposing SCM1001 each year until it is approved. This is the third time she’s introduced the measure: Previous efforts in 2021 and 2022 never earned a committee hearing, much less a vote on the Senate floor.
Before voting against the memorial, Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, D-Coal Mine Mesa, pointed out that the Arizona State Board on Geographic and Historic Names, which follows the naming rules of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, doesn’t consider naming a landmark after a person until they’ve been dead for at least five years. The board also requires some sort of connection or contribution to the landmark or area from the person being memorialized.
Sen. Mitzi Epstein, D-Tempe, said she was appalled by Rogers’ proposal.
“We should name our public places after people who have led exemplary lives, not after a person who has led a disgraceful personal life,” Epstein said, describing Trump’s failures to pay his employees and felony convictions related to his attempt to cover up an affair.
She added that Trump made a mockery of democracy on Jan. 6, 2021, when his followers stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the transition of power from Trump to Joe Biden.
Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, one of the state’s most prominent election deniers, claimed that Epstein’s complaints about Trump were nothing more than “propaganda.” Finchem was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and posted favorably about the events on social media as rioters were fighting with police and storming the seat of American government in an attempt to keep Trump in office, even after he lost an election to Joe Biden.
The language of SCM1001 is a tribute to what Rogers sees as Trump’s accomplishments, including his establishment of the Department of Government Efficiency, “which will dismantle government bureaucracy, eliminate excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.”
So far, DOGE, which is directed by unelected billionaire Elon Musk, has pushed the federal government into chaos by firing federal employees indiscriminately in the name of “cutting out waste, fraud and abuse,” but then several times has backtracked and asked those employees to return to work after finding that their jobs were vital to public safety.
A series of lawsuits have argued that DOGE’s actions are illegal, and some judges have already blocked some of the group’s efforts.
In the proposal, Rogers also praises Trump for building 400 miles of “the world’s most robust and advanced border wall,” cutting taxes and dropping out of the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement.
Arizona is far from the only state where Republicans are looking to ingratiate themselves to Trump by naming things after him. Republicans introduced proposals to create their own Donald J. Trump Highway in Missouri, Kentucky, Wyoming and Utah, Politico reported.
Republican lawmakers in West Virginia just recently proposed a resolution to rename Spruce Knob, the highest point in the state, “Trump Mountain.” And a state representative in Tennessee wants to rename Nashville’s airport after him.
Republicans in Congress have introduced legislation to rename Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia after Trump.
Republican congressmen have also introduced proposals to put Trump’s likeness on $100 bills and to create a new $250 with Trump face on it, as well.
A congresswoman from Florida proposed legislation shortly after Trump took office in January to feature his visage on Mount Rushmore, alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
Much like the text of Rogers’ proposal, statements about proposed name changes to honor Trump heap ample praise on the president, with some members of Congress calling him “the best president of their lifetime,” even though it’s only six weeks into his second term.
“Donald J. Trump’s top priority as president is the best interests of American workers and American families,” SCM1001 reads.
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