World
Trump Sets Sights on Renaming New Mexico After Earlier Geographic Rebrands
President Donald Trump appears intent on continuing his pattern of renaming American landmarks, this time setting his sights on the state of New Mexico. Over the holiday weekend, Trump posted a map on Truth Social showing New Mexico with the word Mexico crossed out and replaced with America, suggesting the state be relabeled New America.
The proposal echoes earlier actions from his second term. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order titled Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness, which renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and changed Alaska's Denali, North America's tallest peak, back to Mount McKinley.
Last month, amid an escalating trade dispute with Canada, Trump signed another executive order renaming Lake Ontario as Lake America. He has repeatedly floated the idea of Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state, though he recently told Fox News, "They think they're a state, but they're not a state. Why should we be subsidizing Canada?"
The latest suggestion to rename New Mexico has already drawn criticism. The group Republicans Against Trump posted on social media platform X, asking, "WTF is wrong with him?" However, conservative journalist Eric Daugherty appeared supportive, writing on X, "This man is on a roll!"
When Trump renamed Lake Ontario, navigation app MapQuest declined to update its maps, stating on X, "We're not changing it." The company subsequently saw a rise in App Store rankings. MapQuest general manager Doug Berger said the company took the same approach as it had with the Gulf of Mexico, aiming to "be part of the conversation" while keeping familiar names for users. He noted that "hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right, by downloading our app."
In contrast, Apple and Google updated their map applications to reflect the name Lake America for U.S. users, following the same approach they took when Trump ordered the Gulf of Mexico renamed.
Shortly after posting about New Mexico, Trump shared an image of the moon on Truth Social with the caption, "The moon is ours."
The 80-year-old president has focused heavily on his legacy during his second term, including renovations to the White House such as a costly new ballroom, along with changes across the Washington, D.C. area. He has also placed his name and image on several buildings in the capital, most notably the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, though a federal judge ordered his name removed from the center, and it was subsequently taken down.
According to a CNN poll conducted by research firm SSRS and published in late July, 73 percent of Americans say Trump has not paid enough attention to the country's most important problems.