Former President Donald Trump, in a series of social media posts over a holiday weekend, advocated for renaming the state of New Mexico to "New America." This suggestion, made on platforms like Truth Social and later amplified by the White House on X, involved an image of New Mexico with the word "Mexico" crossed out and "America" written in its place. Trump stated that "many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico, one of the great vote cheating states of all time, to NEW AMERICA. So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!"
This proposed name change for New Mexico follows earlier actions by Trump during his second term to rename other geographic features. Notably, he signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America" due to tensions with Canada over tariffs. Similarly, early in his second term, he renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the "Gulf of America." These changes, which affected the Geographic Names Information System for U.S. federal use, were subsequently adopted by mapping services like Google and Apple for their U.S. users, though some apps like MapQuest reportedly refused.
However, the legal and constitutional ability to rename a state differs significantly from renaming geographic landmarks. While a president can use executive orders to change names within the federal system for bodies of water, renaming a state requires action within the state itself, as the president lacks the constitutional authority to do so unilaterally. New Mexico's name, "Nuevo México," predates U.S. statehood and its current existence by centuries, having been used by Spanish explorers in the late 1500s.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) strongly criticized Trump's suggestion, stating on X, "New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate — it’s been ours since before the United States existed." She accused Trump of attempting to distract from issues like a "disastrous war in Iran," rising gas prices, and concerns about healthcare and housing. Senator Martin Heinrich (D) also pushed back, asserting he would continue to use the original names for the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, and New Mexico.
