Trump offered to unfreeze funding for NYC tunnel if Dulles airport, train station renamed for him, source says

[swag]

Source: Reuters

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Feb 5 - U.S. President Donald Trump offered last month to drop his hold on funding for a key $16 billion New York Hudson River tunnel project in exchange for Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer supporting the renaming of Washington Dulles Airport and New York Penn Station after Trump, a source told Reuters Thursday.

Punchbowl News first reported the offer citing four sources that was swiftly rejected by Schumer, who told the White House he did not have the power the rename the landmarks, a source confirmed to Reuters. The White House did not respond to a request for comment and Schumer's office declined to comment.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-offered-unfreeze-funding-nyc-tunnel-if-dulles-airport-train-station-2026-02-06/

[sakabatou]

1. He makes everything about him!

His goddamn ego!

[dgauss]

2. When he goes completely insane,

he will demand that planet earth be renamed to Planet Trump. Republicans might go along with it.

[3catwoman3]

30. Even that would not be enough.

Even the universe would not be enough. He's a bottomless pit of neediness.

I'm tempted to read Mary Trump's book, Too Much and Never Enough, but I fear I'd be screaming all thr way thru it and my normally low blood pressure would shoot up.

[COL Mustard]

3. How about Blue Plains instead? I'd be fine with that!

It’s the best sewage treatment facility in the world, ever!!!

[Walleye]

26. We got Cherry Island landfill

[cstanleytech]

4. Trump's like an old dog that's senile and pissing all over the house, marking his territory.

[global1]

5. Make It Easy For Yourself Tr**P ......

Just rename NYC....New Tr**p City.

[AZ8theist]

6. THIS CANNOT BE FUCKING TRUE.

If it is , it is beyond ABSURD.

Does this fucking thin-skined narcissistic man-baby think this is NORMAL??

You fucking treasonous PIG, don't you'll realize you will be VILIFIED FOR ALL ETERITY just as bad as HITLER????????

WHAT A FUCKING IGNORANT, IMBECILIC ASSHOLE.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Trump holding up federal funds already approved and designated by

Congress is illegal. Court will mandate the funds be released.

There will delays and cost overruns as a result, but the names of the transportation hubs won't be changed.

[thesquanderer]

11. re: "Court will mandate the funds be released." - That doesn't mean he will do it.

He has immunity for anything related to his duties as president. So the only recourse if he fails to do something he "must" do would be impeachment... but this congress won't impeach. And even if the next congress impeaches, they won't get the 2/3 needed to convict. This is why he's free to do anything he wants, and ignore anything he wants to ignore.

[no_hypocrisy]

13. Hoping for TACO.

This may not be a battle he wants to lose.

Many businesses in NYC depend upon employees showing up for work. Stock prices depend upon it.

Cut the cord of transportation and the whole U.S. economy suffers.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. It'll be a month he wants next

If it was right for Julius and Augustus Caesar, then surely he deserves it too???!!!

[ChazInAz]

24. He seems to picture himself as Caesar, doesn't he?

Should someone tell him about March 15?

[Walleye]

28. It's funny because I always thought Cesar was pretty smart

[ChazInAz]

37. He was, but there's that thing called "hubris".

[Walleye]

38. Yep seventh deadly sin Amazing how many people think pride is a virtue

[3catwoman3]

31. A single month would not be enough.

He would want them named Trump 1, Trump 2, Trump 3 and so forth.

And why not the days of the week - TrumpMon, TrumpTue, TrumpWed, TrumpThur, etc. I was originally going to say MonTrump, but he wouldn't agree to his name coming second.

PLEASE JUST FUCKING DIE ALREADY! (Sorry for shouting.)

[Buddyzbuddy]

9. Let's start a list of things to name after the Felon.

Sewage treatment facilities
BM's
Gas chamber at animal shelters

Your getting Tr*mped instead of a colonoscopy

Diapers could be the Shroud of Tr*mp.

Huge failures= you Tr*mped it

"Go Tr*mp yourself"

As a result of food poisoning I've been Tr*mping all night.

Oh man, that guy just Tr*mped all over himself.

The Exon Valdez was a real Tr*mp up.

Etc., etc., etc.

[Bengus81]

10. This fucking CLOWN car President is scared out of his skull about Clinton's testifying

Just more distraction and people shouldn't fall for it.

EPSTEIN FILES...EPSTEIN FILES...EPSTEIN FILES...EPSTEIN FILES...EPSTEIN FILES...EPSTEIN FILES...

[Jacson6]

12. I'm embarrssed to be an American any longer.

We have become the land of the oligarchs.

[Botany]

14. News Flash! The man is mentally ill.

Trump is nuttier than a squirrel turd. He is nucking futz. He has been trying to compensate for
his shortcomings his whole life.

[LymphocyteLover]

15. insane, absurd, illegal, grotesque!!!

just another day living under a lunatic POTUS, JFC

[Javaman]

16. narcisist gotta narcissist. nt

[mysteryowl]

17. Unbelievable!

I have been following this story a little.
I think it was NPR that interviewed the workers that are being laid off because trump won't keep funding this project that Biden and Congress voted to fund. The worker made a plea to trump, "I know you will do the right the thing." Sorry, dude, you are mistaken.

[PatSeg]

22. "Unbelievable" was my initial reaction

and then I remembered it is just another day in Bizarro Trump World.

[mysteryowl]

33. ...

[mysteryowl]

34. He now wants his name on the tunnel to release the funds!

[PatSeg]

36. "If I don't get what I want, I'll throw a tantrum"

Clearly, he is a willful and dangerous toddler.

[dlk]

18. Another day, another shakedown

Trump has turned what’s left of our government into an openly criminal enterprise—and the mainstream media yawns.

[twodogsbarking]

19. You will be landing at Asshole Airport. Make sure your seat is in the upright position and your young

daughters have bodyguards.

[DownriverDem]

20. What a MF

Every day trump throws some insanity disgusting nonsense to rile us up. Now trump just openly throws out bribes.

[Doodley]

21. He has the same mentality as a three-year old spoiled child.

[Wonder Why]

23. Disgusting Pig Hole in the Ground? Grift International Airport? Kiss Don's Tunnel Hole? Land Here at Your Peril?

I like the idea.

[Krazy_Kat]

29. President Felonious von Shitzenpantz Station

[LetMyPeopleVote]

25. MaddowBlog-Trump said he'll release federal funds if officials rename Dulles Airport, Penn Station after him

The president’s obsession with self-glorification is old hat, but his tactics regarding the Gateway infrastructure project are new.

Trump’s Gateway tunnel pitch sounds an awful lot like extortion: If Democrats want to save the project, restore the funds, and prevent the job losses, they’ll have to indulge his self-glorification obsession.

Articles of impeachment have been introduced over less.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-02-06T14:07:04.902Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-gateway-federal-funds-rename-dulles-penn-station

It’s also run out of money — not because of mismanagement or budget overruns, but because Donald Trump and his team announced last fall that they would pause the federal funds that had already been approved for the project. (The ostensible reason: The Republican administration wants to know whether contracts were awarded with “diversity, equity and inclusion” considerations in mind.).....

The good news is that the president recently signaled a willingness to release the resources that would allow work to continue. The bad news is the specific condition he has in mind. Punchbowl News reported:

President Donald Trump offered to release the funding for the massive Gateway infrastructure project if Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer agrees to support renaming both Washington-Dulles International Airport and New York’s Penn Station after Trump.

The Trump administration directly made the request of Schumer, according to four sources familiar with the situation.

.....For those keeping score, Trump and his allies have now applied the president’s name to the Kennedy Center and to the Institute of Peace, announced the construction of “Trump-class” battleships, unveiled a commemorative legal-tender coin that will feature his face on both sides and have launched “Trump Gold Cards,” “Trump Accounts” and “TrumpRx” (the government’s new drug-pricing website). By some accounts, the president wants the forthcoming White House ballroom to be named after him, too.....

The president’s pitch is, for all intents and purposes, an attempt at extortion: If Democrats want to save the infrastructure project and prevent the job losses, they must indulge the president’s obsession with self-aggrandizement and self-glorification.

Articles of impeachment have been introduced over less.

“This is ridiculous,” Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York said in a statement. “These naming rights aren’t tradable as part of any negotiations, and neither is the dignity of New Yorkers. At a time when New Yorkers are already being crushed by high costs under the Trump tariffs, the president continues to put his own narcissism over the good-paying union jobs this project provides and the extraordinary economic impact the Gateway tunnel will bring.”

She added, “I demand that the president put people first and unfreeze this project and all the others his administration has been holding hostage for his personal gain.”

[Attilatheblond]

27. What will the 3 letter designation be

for BIG ASSHOLE AIRPORT?

[Initech]

32. Fucking hell no!

I'm sick of the screaming man baby getting everything he wants. This is insanity.

[0rganism]

35. Name a major landfill for him, aka the "Trump Dump"

With any luck, it gets assimilated by culture and the two become synonyms.

"Hey Frank, load up all that stupid broken crap into the pickup, it's time for a trump run."

[LetMyPeopleVote]

39. Trump's obsession with renaming buildings after himself is about more than ego

Cultural omnipresence is a strongman tactic.

Trump’s obsession with renaming buildings after himself is about more than ego
Cultural omnipresence is a strongman tactic. www.ms.now/opinion/trum...

— News Wire - World 🌎 Independent News Network Pro-Democracy (@democracyblue.bsky.social) 2026-02-07T14:14:33.588Z

https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-rename-dulles-airport-penn-tunnel-schumer

President Donald Trump’s reported effort to hold a giant infrastructure project hostage unless he gets to rename Washington-Dulles International Airport and New York’s Penn Station after himself, on the surface, seems like yet another of his narcissistic gambits. But taken with all his other efforts at self-commemoration, it should also be seen as something more: an authoritarian tactic to dominate the public’s consciousness. .....

This isn’t normal political dealmaking. It’s an abuse of power. The president is interfering with funds that were already allocated by Congress for an important public works project in order to effectively skim something off the top for himself (even if in this case he’s trying to secure symbolic power, and not money). As my colleague Steve Benen put it, it’s an “attempt at extortion.”

And as Benen detailed, his obsession with renaming things after himself is unrelenting:

Trump and his allies have now applied the president’s name to the Kennedy Center and to the Institute of Peace, announced the construction of ‘Trump-class’ battleships, unveiled a commemorative legal-tender coin that will feature his face on both sides and have launched ‘Trump Gold Cards,’ ‘Trump Accounts’ and ‘TrumpRx’ (the government’s new drug-pricing website). By some accounts, the president wants the forthcoming White House ballroom to be named after him, too.

Presidential historians have pointed out that Trump’s renaming spree is unprecedented; typically a president is commemorated by other people after the president dies.

But Trump’s insistence on plastering his name is not only a matter of troubling self-obsession; it also serves a political purpose — by making him seem more powerful than he is.

It is standard fare for autocratic leaders to erase boundaries between themselves and the state. Turkmenistan’s late strongman leader Saparmurat Niyazov made his birthday a national holiday, which involved over-the-top celebrations of him, including military parades and a declaration by his ministers that he was a prophet from God. In North Korea’s totalitarian state, cultish praise and ubiquitous imagery of the country’s leaders are an essential part of the government’s social structures designed to induce the public to submit before its authoritarian leader. The effect of these social rituals is to make a leader appear invincible, untouchable.

As The Boston Globe pointed out in December in its analysis of Trump’s renaming obsession, strongmen across history often compelled their subjects or allies to participate in the spectacle of renaming:

Allies of Rome’s Julius Caesar, Germany’s Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, North Korea’s Kim Il Sung, India’s Narendra Modi, and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan named sports stadiums, cities, roads, schools, and other public buildings after them.

In this specific situation, it seems Trump is unlikely to get what he wants because there’s no way that Schumer — who has already refused — could give him what he wants. But we should expect Trump to continue angling to add his name and his visage everywhere he possibly can. Like so many aspiring strongmen before him, Trump views cultural omnipresence as a gateway to political omnipotence. But given that Trump is manifestly not all-powerful, right now, many people can see it for what it is: graffiti.