President Donald Trump has proposed renaming the state of New Mexico to "New America" as part of an expanding geographical rebranding campaign. The proposal, which Trump pushed during a weekend social media spree, comes as the United States faces the highest diesel prices in its history and an ongoing war in Iran that has stretched into its seventh month despite initial promises of a swift resolution.
The suggestion to rename New Mexico is the latest in a series of efforts by the president to rebrand major geographic landmarks. Trump recently remarked, "If you think about it, we have a gulf, and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean." This statement points to his previous designation of the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America," as well as his executive order last month renaming Lake Ontario to "Lake America" amid an ongoing trade dispute with Canada. Observers suggest that the Pacific and Atlantic oceans could be the next targets for his renaming initiative.
Trump's rebranding efforts also extend to federal buildings, institutions, and infrastructure. Among the sites that have seen or are slated for name changes are the Donald J. Trump and John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, D.C., and the President Donald J. Trump International Airport in Palm Beach, Florida. Additionally, reports indicate that a new class of military warship may be procured to carry the president's name.
The political alignment of a region appears to influence the likelihood of its landmarks being targeted for renaming. In his proposal regarding New Mexico, Trump casually characterized it as "one of the great vote-cheating states of all time." This political framing has raised speculation about other locations, such as the Georgia state capitol, which critics suggest could eventually be rebranded as the "Trump America capitol."
This domestic focus on symbolic name changes occurs alongside a shifting military campaign in Iran. Initially projected to last only two weeks, the war has now surpassed six months. On the fourth day of the conflict, dubbed "Operation Epic Fury," Trump announced that the U.S. was "already substantially ahead of our time projections," while Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth remarked that the timeline "could move up, it could move back." By the end of the first week of the conflict in March, Trump assured the public that the campaign was continuing to "totally demolish the enemy far ahead of schedule."
The administration's rhetoric regarding the war's progress has fluctuated significantly over the subsequent months. Nine days into the conflict, it was described as a "short excursion," with Trump dismissing international allies by stating, "We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!" Two days later, he claimed the war was "complete, pretty much." By the third week, despite ongoing military strikes, Trump asserted the conflict had actually ended "in two or three days," later adding that he would know when it was officially over because he would "feel it in my bones."
As the conflict crossed the one-month mark, Trump maintained that forces were "way ahead of schedule," though by the fifth week he warned that "a whole civilization will die tonight." By the sixth week, he described the situation as progressing "swimmingly." Critics argue that the administration's focus on symbolic actions—such as the potential renaming of the Strait of Hormuz to the "Strait of Trump" or the "Strait of America"—serves as a rhetorical strategy to project control over complex international conflicts without making difficult strategic decisions on the ground.
Farewell, New Mexico. The war isn’t going well and nowhere on Earth is safe from the US president’s favourite displacement activity
And yet, was it? A couple of weeks in, Trump was explaining he’d know when the war should be over because he’d “feel it in my bones”. Alas, he seems to have failed to get the arthritic signal to pull out as late as three weeks in, despite assuring everyone that – contrary to appearances such as still bombing the shit out of things – the war had in fact been over “in two or three days”. Flash forward to a month in, and they were still “way ahead of schedule”, although once the five-week mark was hit Trump was dropping casual asides like “a whole civilization will die tonight”. Six weeks in, things were going “swimmingly”. Although, not to nitpick, but were they?
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