Now that Donald Trump is set to leave office (one way or another), it will be so nice not to have to think about him every day, or maybe even at all. But if things go they way they usually do after a president leaves office, there will still be people subjected to constant reminders of his existence. There will be children who have to attend schools named after him, people who have to fly in and out of an airport named after him, commuters who have to take his freeway to work.
Congresswoman Linda T. Sánchez of California is trying to make sure that never happens.
“I don’t think that he deserves any of the benefits that are conferred on prior presidents,” Sánchez said in an interview with People. “I don’t believe that a seditious occupant of the White House should have ever have anything named after him.”
“I am working on a bill that would mean that nothing — not even a bench, no airport, no highway, no school — nothing – ever bear the name of this traitor,” she said.
This feels so important. No matter how awful a president is, they end up having things named after them. Even Richard Nixon has two public schools bearing his name. (They were named during his presidency but haven’t been changed in the decades since he resigned in extreme disgrace.) But in an era when more cities and institutions are beginning to remove the names and other forms of tributes to Confederate leaders, slaveowners, and other white supremacists, maybe we should take action to make sure new racists can’t be similarly memorialized.
Rep. Joaquin Castro said as much last week as he announced his intention to introduce legislation similar to Sánchez’s, tweeting, “Donald Trump should never become a future generation’s confederate symbol.”
President Trump incited an insurrection that damaged some our nation’s most significant and sacred federal property.
Most importantly – let us learn from our past.
Donald Trump should never become a future generation’s confederate symbol. 2/2
— Joaquin Castro (@JoaquinCastrotx) January 8, 2021
We all know how much Donald Trump loves putting his name on things. He should never get to see his name on any sort of federal or state property, mostly because he doesn’t deserve that honor, but also because it would really just be the ultimate personal insult.
(via People, image: Zach Gibson/Getty Images)
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