Trump Shares Map Renaming New Mexico as 'New America,' Days After ‘Trump Strait’ and ‘Lake America’ Uproar
In recent weeks, the President has also renamed Lake Ontario and suggested a change for the Strait of Hormuz.
Days after President Trump's controversial renaming of the Strait of Hormuz as "Trump Strait" and Lake Ontario as "Lake America," he appeared to propose yet another name change - renaming the state of New Mexico to "New America." The president shared a map of the state online, with the new name prominently displayed, but provided no context or explanation for the idea. The White House did not confirm any intent to officially change the name of the state.
The suggestion sparked outrage among Democratic lawmakers representing New Mexico. Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham stated that "New Mexico's name isn't up for debate—it's been ours since before the United States existed." Former Secretary of the Interior and gubernatorial candidate Deb Haaland added, "New Mexico is not up for sale."
Senator Ben Ray Luján called Trump "corrupt" for the proposed name change. Trump allies did express support for the idea, with Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah commenting, "New America? Kind of catchy."
The move is reminiscent of Trump's recent attempts to assert control over geographic features within the U.S. and beyond. After renaming the Gulf of Mexico to "Gulf of America" in a previous executive order, the change was implemented for federal references and updated on popular mapping platforms like Google Maps and Apple Maps. Trump has also added his name to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the U.S. Institute of Peace, while facing criticism for what some lawmakers have called "vanity projects."
Written by urgent.news from Time's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
