Without his name on stuff, we might forget Trump
By Tom Burke
Herald columnist
Ever wonder how towns and mountains; streets and schools; or rivers, lakes, and ponds get named?
Where I grew up, in a hamlet on Long Island near New York City, someone with a droll sense of humor platted “Carstairs, Haig, Wilson, Gordon, and DuBonnet Roads” back when the neighborhood was developed in the 1920s. They must have been longing for those pre-prohibition days ‘cause they named those thorofares after a bunch of booze. (Carstairs was a blended American whiskey; Haig was Scotch; Wilson, another blend; Gordon’s was gin; and DuBonnet an aperitif.) The hamlet, Gibson, was named after its developer, William Gibson, setting precedent for Arthur Levitt to name seven “Levittowns” after himself in the 1940s and ‘50s and Donald Trump to slap his name on most-everything he ever built or bought.
There are of course schools named for John Glenn and John F. Kennedy, a score of Lincoln-named cities, at least one Seattle, a King County, and my favorite lake name: Mooselookmeguntic — in central Maine. (And no, it wasn’t named by a guy shouting he’d shot a moose; rather it is an Abnaki word for “moose feeding place.”)
On a trip to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home, Donald Trump dumped on the man who was “First in War, First in Peace, and First in the hearts of his countrymen,” chiding the Father of our Nation that he hadn’t named his estate Mount Washington, “If he was smart, he would’ve put his name on it. You’ve got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you.”
(You betch’ya, Donald. That Washington guy was someone no one remembers; except for the state, nation’s capital, innumerable towns and cities, mountains, and the $1 bill that has his name and picture on it. Yes sir, that Washington is a guy no one remembers.)
While there’s a lot more to unpack in Trump’s keen insight on presidential history and his view of his legacy, we’ll leave that analysis for another time.
Because what strikes me now is we better start thinking about how we’re going to remember the 45th President of the United State and what we’re going to name after him.
I’d love to hear your ideas.
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