Trump Says He Will Change Name of Gulf of Mexico

Donald Trump just about broke the internet this week by suggesting that he was going to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. 

His supporters went nuts, and one of his surrogates in Congress stated that legislation would be immediately introduced.  

The reality of this, however, is that it will take far more than Trump to make this happen.  

Very Beautiful 

In making his proclamation, Trump stated, "We're going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory. 

"The Gulf of America. What a beautiful name. And it's appropriate." 

After he did this, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) announced that she would introduce legislation to start moving this forward.  

So, here is the reality.  

There is a government agency under the Department of the Interior that oversees this, probably one of the agencies that Musk will look to cut.

That aside, in reality, it would take an act of Congress to make the name change, and we don’t have the numbers in the Senate since this is not a budgetary issue.  

Johnson could add this to a budgetary bill and force it through via reconciliation, but even if he does that, this is still not set in concrete.  

Even if Congress passes the legislation, there is nothing that says the international community needs to change the name on maps or in how it addresses this body of water.  

Jack Davis, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea,” an expert on the subject, commented. 

He explained, “Because it is international territory, his options are solely performative ones. 

“Sure, Congress can pass legislation to rename the Gulf of Mexico. But that doesn’t mean the international community will follow. 

“The suggestion here from this whole proposal is that the U.S. owns the Gulf of Mexico, like it owns the Rocky Mountains. And of course, it doesn’t. So it would amount to nothing but show. 

This hubris act by Trump is meant to catch headlines, and now we have a member of Congress wasting taxpayer money and Congress’ time on legislation that is meant to do nothing but stroke Trump’s ego.  

If I sound upset, I am, because we have far more important issues Congress needs to be working on rather than renaming the Gulf of Mexico.  

It makes the GOP look like a clown show, and the clock is already ticking in terms of having an impressive enough first two years, so we do not lose the House again in 2026.  

It is on the same level as Trump saying he will make Canada and Greenland part of the United States, neither of which will ever happen.