Trump demands New Mexico be rechristened “New America” in nationalist stunt
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President Donald Trump has called on New Mexico to change its name to “New America,” claiming the move would supposedly lift home values, raise incomes, and somehow cure election problems, despite offering no evidence for any of it.
President Donald Trump urged the state of New Mexico to rename itself "New America" in a post on Truth Social on Monday, declaring that the change would better reflect its place inside the United States. "New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!" he wrote before heading to a midterm rally in Kansas.
Trump added that the rename could raise home values and incomes, and suggested it might improve the credibility of elections in the state, though he offered no evidence for these claims. The proposal follows earlier social-media posts in which he displayed a map with "Mexico" crossed out and "America" written underneath, an image later shared by the White House X account.
The suggestion arrives as Republicans face uncertainty about retaining congressional majorities in the upcoming November elections, with some polls indicating voter concerns that the president is not focusing on pressing national issues. Trump has previously pursued other geographic renaming initiatives, including an August executive order to rename Lake Ontario "Lake America" and a prior effort to rename the Gulf of Mexico "Gulf of America." He has also floated renaming the Strait of Hormuz the "Trump Strait."
Legal experts note that while the president can influence the naming of geographic features in the federal Geographic Names Information System, changing a state's name requires action by the state itself and cannot be imposed unilaterally.