President Trump now wants New Mexico to change its name to something that doesn’t offend him.
Just like with the Gulf of Mexico, Trump wants the state to be called “New America” instead, he wrote in a Truth Social post on Monday.
“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! Maybe even the Crooked Elections, that New Mexico is known for, would become honest again! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the president ranted.
Trump’s attacks on New Mexico are almost certainly because the state has voted Democratic in eight of the last nine presidential elections and has always voted against him. Its entire congressional delegation is Democratic, as well as all of its statewide elected officials. Democrats also control both houses of its state legislature.
But aside from Trump’s normal attacks on Democrats, he has fixated on unilaterally changing place names in his second term, possibly out of cognitive decline. He’s signed executive orders to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and Lake Ontario to Lake America. His latest renaming is “artificial intelligence” to “super intelligence,” which isn’t sticking even in his own Cabinet.
The people of New Mexico won’t take kindly to Trump’s suggestion, and the move will just invite mockery. Meanwhile, the midterms are approaching, and the president is supposed to be spending his time campaigning to save Republicans from getting shellacked in two weeks. It’s highly unlikely that changing a state’s name is going to win any votes.