President Donald Trump’s constant urge to etch his name on everything under the sun shows no signs of abating.
The legacy-obsessed Trump, 79, pushed for his name to be slapped on New York City’s Penn Station during a secret meeting with billionaire New York Knicks owner James Dolan last week, Page Six reports.
The New York real estate mogul-turned president is apparently itching to stamp his name onto yet another corner of public life, after already getting it plastered across the Kennedy Center, Navy battleships, the Institute of Peace, the Palm Beach airport, and more.
It’s unclear what Dolan, who owns the Madison Square Garden arena above Penn Station, said in response to Trump’s egomaniacal pitch to rename the nation’s busiest railway station after himself.
Trump, who took control of long-planned efforts to revamp Penn Station from the MTA last year and handed them over to Amtrak and the Department of Transportation, is weighing one proposal to move Madison Square Garden and build a fountain in its place, Gothamist reported last month. The plan can only move forward with approval from Dolan, who has previously rejected the idea.
When reached for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast in a statement, “President Trump is focused on saving our country – not garnering recognition.”
“While we don’t comment on private meetings that may or may not have happened, President Trump undoubtedly supports a strong and revitalized Penn Station that can better serve New York and New Yorkers,” Ingle added.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Dolan’s Madison Square Garden Company for comment.
Trump previously sought to make the renaming happen through another backroom deal, offering New York Senator Chuck Schumer the release of funds for major infrastructure projects that he has withheld in return for having Washington-Dulles International Airport and the Moynihan Train Hall at Penn Station renamed after himself, according to reports.
The president later insisted that Schumer had offered the renaming, a claim the Senate minority leader quickly shot down as an “absolute lie.”
Trump then pivoted to dismissing reports that he sought to attach his name to the station as “FAKE NEWS.”
“The naming of PENN Station (I LOVE Pennsylvania, but it is a direct competitor to New York, and “eating New York’s lunch!”) to TRUMP STATION, was brought up by certain politicians and construction union heads, not me - IT IS JUST MORE FAKE NEWS!” he wrote on Truth Social on Feb. 16.
The Trump administration suspended $18 billion in funds for New York City infrastructure projects last October amid the government shutdown—though some of the money has since started flowing again following legal challenges.
Asked about a potential renaming of the Midtown transit hub, which honors the late New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the state’s Governor Kathy Hochul said last month, “It will over my dead body.”
“We are not messing with that man’s memory,” she added.
