Donald Trump has spent years comparing himself to Abraham Lincoln.
He has argued that the press treated him worse. He has suggested his record with Black Americans belongs in the same conversation. Even the Civil War has become a chance for Trump to explain what he might have done differently.
Now, as he fights to keep his name on a memorial to John F. Kennedy, his administration reportedly is discussing where Trump’s name could appear next.
Aides allegedly have circulated a list of government sites while his push to rename the Kennedy Center remains in litigation.
One location on that list is tied to the final hours of another president.
Ford’s Theatre, where Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, has come up in those discussions, according to MS NOW. Reporters Brian Bennett, Laura Barrón-López and Jake Traylor were allegedly told by one administration official that the idea had been discussed. That official did not know where it stood.
Barrón-López described what the reporting team learned during an appearance on “On the Line with Alicia Menendez.”
“Sources told me, Brian Bennett and Jake Traylor, our colleagues here, that Ford’s Theatre — a very historic site, the playhouse where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 — has come up in discussions,” she said. “It’s being considered for the president’s name to potentially be put on it, attached to it in some form.”
“We don’t know exactly what form that would take,” she continued. “We also don’t know how far along these conversations necessarily are, but they are happening among top administration officials.”
Barrón-López said Ford’s Theatre was part of a wider search.
The journalist shared, “There is also a list that is circulating with more government sites that the administration is considering when it comes to attaching the president’s name to additional buildings or places that they think they could attach it to — potentially ones that have less difficulty legally than, say, the Kennedy Center, which we know the president is still involved in litigation trying to have his name put on that site.”
On X, many chimed in, bashing the president for the idea.
One tweet read, “He wants everything in his name. His picture is on new US passports and currency. And I don’t think there’s going to be an election.”
Someone else wrote, “I’m always uncomfortable with naming buildings before someone passes. Naming/renaming of a building should be a somber event marking someone’s accomplishments by others, not oneself. Otherwise, it’s just another reflecting pool for the narcissist.”
A third comment joked, “I highly doubt if Trump knows anything about the historical significance of Ford’s Theatre. More that likely, he probably thinks it has something to do with Henry Ford.
Enough of this nonsense. Get this man out of the White House.”
“Trump is a megalomaniac of the highest order,” another person declared, as someone else stated, “He thinks he is god.”
The White House called the report “completely false,” according to The Independent. The Interior Department also denied the report. The administration has announced no proposal for Ford’s Theatre.
The president took to Truth Social to also deny the claims: “The story that the White House, or me, want to affix my name to Ford’s Theatre, in Washington, D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, is a ridiculous lie. It is FAKE NEWS! Who would possibly want a name on such a tragic place? The Dumocrats suffer from serious Trump Derangement Syndrome. They are Degenerates and Losers who make up lie after lie, and this Ford’s Theatre Hoax is just another one of their never-ending, malicious falsehoods to try to discredit and demean. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
The site’s history makes the reported discussion especially charged.
John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln during a performance on April 14, 1865. Lincoln died the next morning at the Petersen House across the street. Both buildings are part of a National Park Service historic site whose name was set by federal law.
A formal renaming would likely require congressional action.
Trump has returned to Lincoln for comparisons throughout his political career.
In March 2017, Mashable reports, he remarked that many people did not know Lincoln was a Republican.
It happened again at a May 2020 town hall at the Lincoln Memorial, he said he believed the press had treated him worse than Lincoln. Later that year, he described Lincoln as “a man that I’ve always competed against.”
At a 2020 presidential debate, Trump claimed no president had done more for Black Americans than he had, with a possible exception for Lincoln, according to NPR.
He narrowed even that exception during an April 2024 stop in Atlanta: “Maybe including Abraham Lincoln, frankly.”
In January 2024, he suggested the Civil War could have been negotiated. He questioned Lincoln’s handling of it again in an October interview with Joe Rogan.
The Ford’s Theatre report follows Trump’s attempt to add his name to the Kennedy Center, which Congress established as a memorial to John F. Kennedy.
Trump has also pictured himself beside Lincoln in a different setting.
In July, he shared imagery placing his face alongside the four presidents on Mount Rushmore. Similar imagery appeared on cookies aboard Air Force One.
Trump’s portrait now appears on a 2026 $1 coin. The former real estate mogul has used his influence to align himself with other presidents minted on American money.
At Ford’s Theatre, the question is more pointed: why would a site dedicated to telling the story of Lincoln’s death need Trump’s name on it?
🔴 President Trump refuted claims that he wants his name on Ford's Theatre, calling it a tragic place and attributing the rumors to "Trump Derangement Syndrome."
— Open Source Intelligence (@osint42) September 24, 2026
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