Trump Sets Sights On US State For Next Geographic Rebrand

President Donald Trump suggested Sunday that New Mexico could be next on his list of geographic rebrands, sharing a state map on Truth Social with “Mexico” struck through in red and “America” written beneath it — an unofficial stab at “New America.”

The post arrived just days after Trump signed an executive order on August 27 renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” a move tied to frustration over a collapsed trade agreement with Canada. That order followed a similar directive renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

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— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 6, 2026

Whether Sunday’s post reflects any actual policy intent remains unclear, and the White House did not immediately respond when the Daily Wire asked it to confirm plans for a formal renaming effort. The image appeared alongside a string of unrelated posts Sunday, including one mocking Robert De Niro and another depicting Trump on horseback beside George Washington, suggesting the New Mexico post could be little more than provocation.

The idea has circulated in various forms for months. Fact-checkers including Snopes debunked a viral Tuesday X post claiming Trump had already signed an executive order renaming the state. Similar hoaxes or satirical posts surfaced in April 2025 after the Gulf of Mexico order, prompting a New Mexico governor’s office spokesperson at the time to call the renaming “clearly fictitious and not grounded in any reality” in a statement to a local outlet.

Trump’s earlier geographic name changes have drawn mixed reactions. A Reuters/Ipsos poll from Tuesday found only 14% of Americans approved of the Lake Ontario switch, even as Google and Apple updated their U.S. map applications to reflect it.

New Mexico, admitted to the Union in 1912, derives its name from the Spanish colonial territory of Nuevo México, predating the modern nation of Mexico by two centuries.