Donald Trump gets a highway named after him in Oklahoma thanks to Republican lawmakers

The new name will go into effect on 1 November

(REUTERS)

Yet another long, gray stretch of concrete is going to have Donald Trump's name plastered on it, except this time rather than rising high above New York City, it will stretch across the Oklahoma panhandle.

Republican lawmakers in Oklahoma slipped a proposal to name a stretch of highway after the former president in the state legislature's annual omnibus bridge and highway-naming bill.

On Friday, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed the legislation into law, officially renaming a 20-mile stretch of US 287 between Boise City and the Oklahoma-Texas border after Mr Trump.

According to The Oklahoman, the legislation was almost derailed in the state legislature when the state Senate Minority Leader Kay Floyd, a Democrat, pointed out that state law requires that a person be dead for at least three years before a highway or bridge can be named in their honor.

(AFP via Getty Images)

That rule is excepted in the case of Medal of Honor recipients.

However, in a not at all unprecedented move, Republicans simply opted to change the rules in order to appease Mr Trump.

In an amendment to SB 624, they nixed the three-year requirement.

The new signage for the stretch of highway named after the former president will be paid for by the Republican legislators who pushed for the bill.

It's not the first time the state has tried to name a stretch of highway after Mr Trump; in 2019, a pair of Republican lawmakers pushed for the former president to have his name added to a portion of Route 66.

However, the proposal was met with immediate push-back from people on both sides of the political aisle, who argued that the historic highway should not be politicised.

The bill will go into effect on 1 November, changing the highway to President Donald J Trump Highway.

It's no secret that Mr Trump likes having his name on things.

Mr Trump has lent his name to his chain of hotels, steaks, a litigation-marred "university," and now a highway.

However, Mr Trump's loftiest hope is not to get his name on a major national monument, but rather his face.

During discussions with South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, Mr Trump reportedly told her it had always been his dream to have his face carved into Mount Rushmore alongside the visages of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt.

She said she initially thought it was a joke, but said the former president appeared to be serious.

Following the discussion, Ms Noem gave Mr Trump a $1,100 bust depicting Mount Rushmore, but with one notable change; his face had been carved into the monument.

She said she gave it to him because she was sure it was something he wanted to receive.