Trump calls for New Mexico to be renamed ‘New America’

US President Donald Trump has called for the southwestern state of New Mexico to be renamed “New America.” It is the latest example of Trump’s interest in changing geographic names to align with his political views.

Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday local time before leaving the White House for a midterm election campaign rally in Kansas, “New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States!”

Trump lost New Mexico by 6 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election. Concerns are growing among Republicans about retaining their majority in Congress this November. Opinion polls show that many voters believe the president is not paying enough attention to the country’s major problems.

Trump has claimed that changing the state’s name would increase home prices and people’s incomes. However, he has provided no evidence to support the claim. Trump has also repeated allegations of election fraud. He wrote, “Maybe New Mexico’s famously rigged elections will become honest again!”

Trump previously proposed changing New Mexico’s name. Last September, he shared a map of the state on social media with the word “Mexico” crossed out and “America” written below it. The image was also posted on the White House’s X account.

This is Trump’s latest initiative involving a name change. Last August, amid the ongoing trade war with Canada, he moved through an executive order to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.” He previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” He has also repeatedly suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait.”

However, the US president does not have the constitutional authority to change a state’s legal name. Although the system governing geographic names allows changes to the names of features such as bodies of water, changing a state’s name would require the process to be completed within that state.

According to the US Bureau of Indian Affairs, the name “New Mexico” came into use in the 16th century, even before the United States was founded.

On Monday evening, New Mexico’s Democratic Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham rejected Trump’s proposal. She wrote on the social media platform X, “Once again, New Mexico was New Mexico long before the United States existed, and it will always remain New Mexico.”

The state’s senator, Ben Ray Luján, also opposed the proposal. He said New Mexico’s name carries the history, culture and rich heritage of many generations. These have shaped the identity of the state’s people.

He further wrote, “We are New Mexicans. We are proud of our name and our homeland, and we will keep both. Long after Donald Trump leaves office, New Mexico will still be New Mexico.”

Source: CNN (Adapted)