President Donald Trump posted a map on Truth Social on Sunday showing New Mexico with “Mexico” crossed out and replaced with “America,” continuing a pattern of renaming geographic features across the United States.
The map post marks Trump’s latest move in a series of rebranding efforts. In January 2025, Trump signed an executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” and changing the name of Denali in Alaska back to Mount McKinley. Most recently, on August 27, 2026, he signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America” amid an escalating trade war with Canada.
Trump’s push to relabel New Mexico follows the pattern of his previous geographic renamings. According to The Independent, the map post came alongside another Truth Social post in which Trump shared an image of the moon with the caption “The moon is ours,” suggesting his ambitions extend beyond domestic geography.
Public reaction to Trump’s previous renaming efforts has been largely negative. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from September 1-2, 2026, found that 63% of Americans opposed the renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America, compared to only 14% who supported the change. The remaining 21% said they did not know or did not answer.
Tech companies have responded differently to Trump’s geographic rebranding directives. Apple and Google changed their maps applications to display “Lake America” for U.S. users, following the same approach they took when Trump demanded the Gulf of Mexico be renamed. MapQuest, however, refused to update its navigation app, with the company’s general manager Doug Berger stating, “We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they’re familiar with.” MapQuest subsequently saw a surge in app store rankings after hundreds of thousands of users downloaded it over the weekend.
The claim that Trump signed an executive order renaming New Mexico to “New America” originated as satire. According to Snopes, a satirical social media account called Casper Planet posted the initial claim on August 29, 2026, describing it as “Snews that doesn’t matter.” The post was later shared by X user @DailyNoud on September 1, where it received more than 2.7 million views, with some readers interpreting the satirical post as factual news.
Sources
- The Independent — Trump’s Truth Social post showing New Mexico map with “Mexico” crossed out and “America” written in; context on previous renamings and tech company responses
- Snopes — Fact-check confirming the satirical origin of the executive order claim and the Casper Planet satire account
- Reuters/Ipsos Poll (via USA Today, Fox News, The Hill) — 63% of Americans opposed Lake Ontario renaming, 14% supported
- AP News — Trump signed executive order on August 27, 2026, renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America
- BBC — Confirmation of Trump’s Lake Ontario renaming executive order
- White House — January 20, 2025 executive order “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness” renaming Gulf of Mexico and Denali
