Trump takes aim at a US state - again - in his latest push to remake the nation’s maps
It’s not the first time Trump has suggested changing New Mexico’s name
President Donald Trump has taken aim, yet again, at New Mexico, saying the southwestern state should change its name to “New America.”
Trump has already changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, but in recent weeks has set his sights on New Mexico, ranting on his Truth Social platform Monday afternoon: “New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!”
“The name would add great value and prestige to the State! Home Values and Incomes would rise, and you would be even prouder while saluting our beautiful American Flag!” he continued.
“Maybe even the Crooked Elections, that New Mexico is known for, would become honest again! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the president concluded his post.
This isn’t the first time Trump has suggested the name change. In September, the 80-year-old president took to Truth Social to share a revised image of a map that had the word Mexico crossed out and replaced with America.
He even called the state by that name while endorsing Greg Cunningham, a Republican running for Congress in New Mexico, telling viewers in a video, “Hello New America — formerly known as New Mexico.”
At the time, Trump insisted that the decision to change the state’s name would be up to New Mexico’s residents — but insisted it would be a “beautiful change.”
“A lot of people are liking it a lot,” he said.
Renaming the southwestern state on the U.S.-Mexico border as New America is reminiscent of an executive order he signed early in his second term, in which he changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
The executive order that prompted the change in January 2025 was titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness.” It also changed the name of North America’s tallest peak, Denali, which is in Alaska, back to Mount McKinley.
Trump has also used executive orders to change the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America amid an escalating trade war with Canada.
While signing that executive order in August, Trump even discussed possibly renaming oceans.
“If you think about it, we have a gulf, and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean,” he said. “So maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or Pacific, or maybe we will change them both.”
