Trump posts map renaming New Mexico as 'New America'

President Donald Trump sparked backlash after posting social media maps and AI-generated videos suggesting New Mexico be renamed "New America." The proposal, shared during a holiday weekend posting spree, was rejected by New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and other Democratic officials, who called it a distraction from rising gas prices and the war in Iran. While Trump has previously used executive orders to rename Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico, he lacks the constitutional authority to rename a state.

New Mexico renaming proposal

• ▪President Donald Trump posted a social media image and an AI-generated video suggesting that the state of New Mexico be renamed to "New America."
• ▪The official White House social media account on X reshared President Donald Trump's "New America" map image on September 6, 2026
• ▪The "New America" map image originally emerged as a parody on September 1, 2026, on the X account Daily Noud, which falsely claimed President Donald Trump had signed an executive order renaming New Mexico
• ▪President Donald Trump characterized New Mexico as "one of the great vote cheating states of all time" while proposing the name change to "New America."

Trump social media posting spree

• ▪President Donald Trump posted over 60 messages on Truth Social between 9:10 a.m. and 10:35 p.m. on Sunday, September 6, 2026, featuring AI-generated images, personal attacks, and political boasts
• ▪President Donald Trump shared AI-generated images on Truth Social depicting the annexation of Canada and Mexico to the United States, as well as claiming U.S. ownership of the moon
• ▪President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated image of himself arm wrestling professional wrestler Hulk Hogan and another depicting himself as the "Greatest" U.S. president above Abraham Lincoln and George Washington

Democratic officials' responses

• ▪New Mexico U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján criticized the proposal on social media, with Luján calling President Donald Trump "corrupt" and Heinrich listing New Mexico, Lake Ontario, and the Gulf of Mexico by their actual names
• ▪New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and other critics accused President Donald Trump of using the renaming proposal to distract Americans from rising gas prices and his administration's war in Iran
• ▪New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham rejected the renaming proposal, stating that New Mexico's name is not up for debate and has belonged to the region since before the United States existed
• ▪Democratic candidate for New Mexico governor Deb Haaland and U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez publicly opposed the renaming, stating that New Mexico is not for sale and its history cannot be erased

Presidential renaming pattern

• ▪President Donald Trump teased potential plans to change the names of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, stating that the United States has a renamed gulf and lake and now needs a renamed ocean
• ▪President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order in January 2025 renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America" for U.S. federal agency usage
• ▪President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order on August 27, 2026, renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America" for U.S. federal references amid an ongoing trade war with Canada
• ▪President Donald Trump added his surname to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with the center's board voting in August 2026 to reinstate his name on the facade despite a prior judge's order

Constitutional limits on state renaming

• ▪President Donald Trump lacks the constitutional authority to legally rename U.S. states, as the legal process to change a state's name must occur within the state itself
• ▪The White House has not announced any official policy or administrative effort to rename the state of New Mexico
• ▪The name of New Mexico dates back to the 1500s when Spanish settlers named the region Nuevo México, making the name older than both the United States and Mexico's independence from Spain

Debatable claims

• ▪Official White House social media accounts should only share formal policy communications
• ▪Political leaders should not use AI-generated media in their public communications
• ▪The U.S. should restore the original names of Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico

7 sources