Trump Suggests Renaming New Mexico “New America”

Donald Trump has proposed a new name for an American state, at least visually. A social-media post showed a map of New Mexico with “Mexico” crossed out and replaced by “America,” suggesting the state could become “New America.”

The response from New Mexico's Democratic governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, came quickly. “The name New Mexico is not up for debate,” she wrote on X. She added that the name existed before the United States itself.

Lujan Grisham accused Trump of trying to distract attention from the war with Iran and sharply rising petrol prices. While the White House was spending its time coloring maps, she said, her team in “Nuevo México” was making progress on healthcare and free childcare. Her use of the Spanish name highlighted the state's deep Spanish-speaking history and population.

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The name New Mexico is not up for debate.

Trump has already ordered several renamings during his second term, which began in early 2025. He changed the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” and more recently ordered Lake Ontario, which runs along the Canadian border, to be called “Lake America.”

When signing the order on the lake, Trump mused that one gulf and one lake had been renamed and that only an ocean was missing. “Maybe we will have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific,” he said.

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Maybe we will have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific.