Oklahoma’s U.S. 287, Donald Trump (inset).Photo: GOOGLE MAPS. INSET: GETTY
Donald Trumpwill soon have a permanent presence — of sorts — in Oklahoma, where Gov. Kevin Stitt last weeksigned legislationto name a stretch of highway after the former president.
Republican legislators in the state tucked the highway-naming proposal into an annualbridge-and-highway-naming bill, which also includes a measure to name an interchange after Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe.
In April, state lawmakers voted to name a roughly 20-mile stretch of U.S. 287, in Oklahoma’s panhandle, the “President Donald J. Trump Highway.”
According toTheOklahoman, the portion of highway will run from Boise City to the Oklahoma-Texas border.
Democrats objected to the measure, with Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd noting that state law requires a person to be dead for a minimum of three years or be a Medal of Honor recipient before a highway can be named in their honor.
The bill cleared that roadblock when the state’s Republican-led Senate suspended the rule.
Sen. Rob Standridge — who sponsored the Senate bill naming the state roadway after the former president — said during debate that the highway-naming rulehad been violatedin the past.
Earlier this year, Florida state Rep. Anthony Sabatini called for U.S. Highway 27 to be renamed the “President Donald J. Trump Highway,” tweeting then that he would sponsor an amendment in an effort to do so.
“This legislative session I will be sponsoring an amendment to rename U.S. Highway 27 as the ‘President Donald J. Trump Highway,'” Sabatiniwrote. “Looking forward to working on this important designation honoring one of the greatest Presidents in American History.”
Sabatini’s billdied in committeemonths later.
In April, Ohio Republicans attempted toname a state park after Trumpafter previously seeking to declare Trump’s June 14 birthday as “Donald J. Trump Day” in the state. (As Democrats have noted in their criticism of that move, June 14 day already falls on a holiday — Flag Day — which honors the adoption of the American flag.)
The news of the eponymous highway is likely to please Trump, who has reportedly inquired with aides about having an airport named after him.
Sources toldThe Daily Beastthat Trump asked about the necessary “paperwork” required to have an airport named “Donald J. Trump” after he left office. The outlet also cited sources who said Trump mentioned having an aircraft carrier commissioned and named after him.
Trump, a lifelong New Yorker,became a Florida resident in 2019, filing paperwork to officially designate his Mar-a-Lago Club as his family’s place of primary residence.
Since leaving office, he has been leadinga relatively quiet lifein Palm Beach, thanks in part to his removal from social media platformsincluding Twitter and Facebook.
Per PEOPLE’s own sources, his days typically include regular rounds of golf, leisurely lunches and meetings with GOP lawmakers on top of time spent mulling a possible re-entry into politics and facingmounting legal pressures.
source: people.com
