A $250 bill and 'WMAGA': GOP lawmakers push legislation honoring Trump

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

June 21, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EDT


Late last month, Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube introduced a bill that would halt any funding for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority unless its name was changed. Steube, whose southwest Florida district is about 950 miles from Washington, proposed WMATA be rechristened the Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access or … WMAGA. The legislation also called for Metrorail, the system’s flagship rail line, to be renamed the “Trump Train.”

The bill, Steube said in a statement, would signal a “cultural shift away from bureaucratic stagnation toward public-facing excellence and patriotism.” Steube’s proposal is just the latest in legislative offerings this year paying tribute to President Donald Trump.

House Republicans have proposed at least eight bills since January to honor the president or burnish his image. They would, among other things, put Trump’s portrait on U.S. currency, carve his face onto Mount Rushmore, rename Washington Dulles International Airport for him and make his birthday a national holiday. Two bills, both introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), called for the House to expunge Trump’s impeachments in 2019 and 2021.

Longtime political observers say the GOP’s legislative love fest for the president is well outside of congressional norms. While members have often proposed legislation that honors presidents, it is almost never while they are still in office. “It is unprecedented and to be honest with you, it’s completely wild,” John White, professor emeritus of politics at Catholic University, said in an interview. “History shows that most things are named after presidents after they have either long left office or been deceased.” Ronald Reagan was still alive in 1998 when Congress passed legislation renaming Washington National Airport for him. But by then, Reagan had been out of office for almost a decade and had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/06/21/gop-legislation-honors-trump-congress/

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No paywall (gift)

[Bayard]

1. Blech

[Leghorn21]

2. NEED A BARF BUCKET OVER HERE

STAT

[Eugene]

3. more red meat for the MAGA base seasoned with hints of emperor worship

It's part of a laundry list that includes Anna Paulina Lunatic's proposal to add Dump's likeness to Mount Rushmore. The article notes that most of these proposals are unlikely to happen.

That said, Dump's mug on a three-dollar note sounds interesting.

[generalbetrayus]

6. I'd prefer it be put on a 47-dollar bill.

[Marthe48]

4. A 3 dollar bill

as in the old saying 'fake as a 3 dollar bill'

[SCantiGOP]

7. You must be younger than me

60 years ago the $3 bill was used as a homophobic slur, as in “queer as a three dollar bill.”

[John1956PA]

11. I did not know of that usage. Thanks for posting,

[Marthe48]

12. I've got a vintage mug

Looks like nixon on a 3 dollar bill wrapped around it

[Marthe48]

13. I remember counterfeit money

Being called queer. But also queer as a homophobic description.

[generalbetrayus]

5. My family and I flew into National Airport in 1957 when the government transferred him from Seattle to D. C.

I still refuse to call it Reagan National Airport.

[erronis]

8. I long lobbied that they change the "Blue Plains Sewage Treatment Plant" name to Ronnie.

The pukes gotta puke.

[erronis]

9. Are you sure this isn't from The Onion? It's great humorous reporting on a ridiculous situation.

[ShazzieB]

10. Wow, these GOPuke lawmakers really don't have anything to do these days, do they?

I mean, they must not, if they have time to fritter away on this kind of malarkey!

The depths to which GOPuke officeholders will stoop to curry favor with the Orange Hellbeast, rather than doing the actual jobs to which they were elected, never fail to amaze, and nauseate, me.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. The GOP/MAGA competition to name things after trump is sick

One historian described the Republican effort to name a bunch of things after Trump as “pretty crazy.”

The list of sycophantic pro-Trump GOP bills now includes:
- renaming DC metro trains after him
- putting him on 0 and 0 bills
- renaming Dulles Airport after him
- making his birthday a national holiday
- adding him to Mount Rushmore
As one historian put it, this is getting “pretty crazy.”

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-05-30T17:42:23.501Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/republican-bill-name-dc-metro-trump-train-part-ridiculous-pattern-rcna209970

Now that the president has returned to power, Steube is still thinking along similar lines, though as The Hill reported, the GOP congressman now has found something new he wants to rename.

Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) introduced a bill Thursday to rename the Washington, D.C., subway system after President Trump and his MAGA slogan. The Make Autorail Great Again Act would withhold federal funding to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, known as WMATA, until it rebrands as the Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access, or WMAGA — a similar acronym to the Make America Great Again slogan — and renames the Metrorail the Trump Train.

......The proposal joins a growing list of related Republican measures that are currently pending on Capitol Hill:

There’s a bill that would create a $250 bill, and its Republican authors also want to feature Trump’s face. (Existing federal law prohibits any living person from being depicted on U.S. currency, but the bill would create a one-time exception to the prohibition.)

There’s a similar bill that would put Trump’s face on $100 bills, replacing Benjamin Franklin.
There’s a bill to make Trump’s birthday a federal holiday.

There’s a bill to carve Trump’s face into Mount Rushmore.

There’s a bill to rename Dulles Airport after Trump.

What’s more, this list doesn’t include kindred efforts from the incumbent president’s sycophantic allies, including measures to nominate Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize and to allow Trump to seek a third term......

As The New York Times recently summarized, “A competition of sorts has broken out for whom the Republican base will see as the most pro-Trump member.” From the article:

The rush of flattering legislation, some of which even the lawmakers concede is unlikely to pass, stands apart from merely carrying out Mr. Trump’s agenda. ... ‘It shows the power that Donald Trump has within the Republican Party these days, and that Republican members want to stay on his good side,’ said Sean M. Theriault, government professor at the University of Texas at Austin. ‘A lot of these people are in really safe districts, but they’re also thinking about what their next step is. And so if they have designs on being in the Senate or running for governor or even a position in the administration, then there’s no better way to get on his good side than to do these over-the-top moves toward him.’

That was published before most of the aforementioned bills were introduced

I’m reminded anew of something Filipe Campante, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, said about these efforts: “The reason why this is bad is the very fact that it’s transparently ridiculous: It shows how this is becoming a 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.”

That competition, alas, is apparently intensifying.