President Donald Trump on Sunday appeared to suggest that New Mexico should be called “New America,” posting a photo of the state with the new name days after he signed an executive order to change Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”
The image posted on Truth Social, which was reshared by the White House on X, shows the outline of the state with the word “Mexico” crossed out in red and replaced with “America.” There was no explanation shared alongside the image. The White House has not announced an effort to rename New Mexico. CNN has reached out for more details.
While Trump has the power to rename what geographic landmarks, such as bodies of water, are called in the Geographic Names Information System, he doesn’t have the constitutional ability to legally rename states — that process would need to happen within the state.
In addition to the renaming of Lake Ontario in the system late last month, Trump also used an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America in January 2025, on his first day back in office.
In response to the post, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, accused Trump of trying to distract Americans, insisting that “New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate.”
