Florida Representative Greg Steube has introduced new legislation that would rename Washington D.C.’s metro system after former President Donald Trump, adding to a growing list of Trump-themed proposals from Republican lawmakers.
According to MSNBC, the Make Autorail Great Again Act, introduced on Thursday, would withhold federal funding from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) until it rebrands itself as the Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access (WMAGA), a clear reference to Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan.
The bill would require the Metrorail system to be renamed as the “Trump Train,” marking another attempt by Republican lawmakers to venerate the former president through federal legislation. The proposal has not yet received any co-sponsors, though this is expected to change based on recent patterns.
Republican lawmakers continue to push for Trump-themed legislation
The metro renaming proposal joins several other pending bills in Congress aimed at honoring Trump. These include legislation to create a $250 bill featuring Trump’s face, another bill to replace Benjamin Franklin with Trump on the $100 bill, and proposals to make Trump’s birthday a federal holiday.
Additional measures include bills to carve Trump’s face into Mount Rushmore and rename Dulles Airport after the former president. Some Republican allies have also pushed for Trump’s nomination for a Nobel Peace Prize and proposed legislation to allow him to seek a third term.
Historians and political experts have noted the unusual nature of these proposals. Rutgers University historian David Greenberg told Politico that while personality cults around former presidents have existed before, the current spate of Trump-themed legislation is “pretty crazy” and unprecedented in American political history.
According to Sean M. Theriault, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin, these legislative proposals demonstrate Trump’s continued influence within the Republican Party. He suggests that lawmakers, particularly those from safe districts, may be using these proposals to curry favor with Trump for future political aspirations, including Senate runs, gubernatorial campaigns, or potential administration positions.
The trend has drawn comparisons to authoritarian personality cults, with Johns Hopkins University professor Filipe Campante describing it as “Kim Jong-Un-style cult of personality, where the sycophants try to outdo one another in their groveling to get the attention of Dear Leader.”
The New York Times has reported that these proposals have created a competition among Republican lawmakers to be seen as the most pro-Trump member of Congress, despite the unlikely chance of any of these bills becoming law.
Published: May 30, 2025 03:17 pm