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WASHINGTON — <\/span>Most American presidents aspire to the kind of greatness that prompts future generations to name important things in their honor.<\/p>\n Donald Trump isn’t leaving it to future generations. <\/p>\n As the first year of his second term wraps up, his administration and allies have put the president\u2019s name on the U.S. Institute of Peace<\/a>, the Kennedy Center performing arts venue<\/a> and a new class of battleships<\/a>. <\/p>\n That\u2019s on top of the \u201cTrump Accounts\u201d<\/a> for tax-deferred investments, the TrumpRx government website<\/a> soon to offer direct sales of prescription drugs, the \u201cTrump Gold Card\u201d visa<\/a> that costs at least $1 million and the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity<\/a>, a transit corridor included in a deal his administration brokered between Armenia and Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n On Friday, he plans to attend a ceremony in Florida where local officials will dedicate a 4-mile (6-kilometer) stretch of road from the airport to his Mar-a-Lago estate as President Donald J. Trump Boulevard.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unprecedented for a sitting president to embrace tributes of that number and scale, especially those proffered by members of his administration. And while past sitting presidents have typically been honored by local officials naming schools and roads after them, it’s exceedingly rare for airports, federal buildings, warships or other government assets to be named for someone still in power.<\/p>\n \u201cAt no previous time in history have we consistently named things after a president who was still in office,\u201d said Jeffrey Engel, the David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. \u201cOne might even extend that to say a president who is still alive. Those kind of memorializations are supposed to be just that \u2014 memorials to the passing hero.\u201d<\/p>\n White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said the TrumpRx website linked to the president’s deals to lower the price of some prescription drugs, along with \u201coverdue upgrades of national landmarks, lasting peace deals, and wealth-creation accounts for children are historic initiatives that would not have been possible without President Trump\u2019s bold leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n “The Administration\u2019s focus isn\u2019t on smart branding, but delivering on President Trump\u2019s goal of Making America Great Again,” Huston said. <\/p>\n The White House pointed out that the nation’s capital was named after President George Washington and the Hoover Dam was named after President Herbert Hoover while each was serving as president. <\/p>\n For Trump, it\u2019s a continuation of the way he first etched his place onto the American consciousness, becoming famous as a real estate developer who affixed his name in big gold letters on luxury buildings and hotels, a casino and assorted products like neckties, wine and steaks<\/a>.<\/p>\n As he ran for president in 2024, the candidate rolled out Trump-branded business ventures for watches<\/a>, fragrances, Bibles<\/a> and sneakers \u2014 including golden high tops priced at $799.<\/a> After taking office again last year, Trump’s businesses launched a Trump Mobile phone company, with plans to unveil a gold-colored smartphone<\/a> and a cryptocurrency memecoin named $TRUMP<\/a>.<\/p>\n That\u2019s not to be confused with plans for a physical, government-issued Trump coin that U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach said the U.S. Mint is planning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump has also reportedly told the owners of Washington\u2019s NFL team that he would like his name on the Commanders\u2019 new stadium<\/a>. The team\u2019s ownership group, which has the naming rights, has not commented on the idea. But a White House spokeswoman in November called the proposed name \u201cbeautiful\u201d and said Trump made the rebuilding of the stadium possible.<\/p>\n The addition of Trump\u2019s name to the Kennedy Center in December so outraged independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont that he introduced legislation this week to ban the naming or renaming of any federal building or land after a sitting president \u2014 a ban that would retroactively apply to the Kennedy Center and Institute of Peace.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he is a narcissist who likes to see his name up there. If he owns a hotel, that\u2019s his business,\u201d Sanders said in an interview. \u201cBut he doesn\u2019t own federal buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n Sanders likened Trump’s penchant for putting his name on government buildings and more to the actions of authoritarian leaders throughout history.<\/p>\n \u201cIf the American people want to name buildings after a president who is deceased, that\u2019s fine. That\u2019s what we do,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cBut to use federal buildings to enhance your own position very much sounds like the \u2018Great Leader\u2019 mentality of North Korea, and that is not something that I think the American people want.\u201d<\/p>\n Although some of the naming has been suggested by others, the president has made clear he\u2019s pleased with the tributes.<\/p>\n Three months after the announcement of the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, a name the White House says was proposed by Armenian officials, the president gushed about it at a White House dinner. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s such a beautiful thing, they named it after me. I really appreciate it. It\u2019s actually a big deal,\u201d he told a group of Central Asian leaders. <\/p>\n Engel, the presidential historian, said the practice can send a signal to people “that the easiest way to get access and favor from the president is to play to his ego and give him something or name something after him.\u201d<\/p>\n