New Mexico ‘New America’: Trump’s Rename Push Returns
The new mexico new america rename push returned on Monday, when President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to demand that New Mexico “immediately” change its name to New America.
Trump argued the new name would add “great value and prestige” to the state, writing that “Home Values and Incomes would rise” and residents would feel “even prouder while saluting our beautiful American Flag.” He also revived unsubstantiated claims about the state’s elections, writing that “Maybe even the Crooked Elections, that New Mexico is known for, would become honest again!”
A September Idea, Revived
The proposal first surfaced last month, when Trump shared an altered map showing the word “Mexico” crossed out in red and replaced with “America” in the state’s name. The White House amplified the post on its official X account. The September post described the idea as one he had heard from “many people” and called the proposed name more dignified.
Monday’s post marks a second, more forceful push — this time framed as an economic argument, with the president tying the name change to higher property values and household incomes. He offered no evidence that a new name would affect either.
New Mexico Pushes Back
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham rejected the idea again, writing on X that New Mexico’s name “isn’t up for debate” and noting it predates the United States itself. New Mexico’s senior senator, Martin Heinrich, answered with a line of his own: “Three things I will always call by their actual names — the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, New Mexico.”
Democrats framed the episode as a distraction from bigger fights, including rising prices and the president’s war in Iran, according to the governor’s response.
A President Can’t Rename a State
Legal reality makes the proposal a long shot: the federal government has no authority to change a state’s name. Renaming New Mexico would require its voters to approve an amendment to the state constitution through a ballot measure — a political mountain no president can move with a social media post.
The rename campaign fits a pattern from Trump’s second term. His administration moved to rebrand the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” in early 2025 and took steps to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America” as trade tensions with Canada escalated.
Whether Monday’s post is a trial balloon or a passing message, it has once again put one of America’s oldest state names at the center of the political conversation.
Source: Fox News