Trump can’t stop changing the name of things and now has US state as his target

Read the original at The Independent ↗
Cite

Dobkin, R. (2026, September 6). Trump can’t stop changing the name of things and now has US state as his target. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-name-change-state-mexico-b3045594.html

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

The Independent · collected 2026-09-06 · by Rachel Dobkin

Quick Summary

President Donald Trump is reportedly considering renaming New Mexico "New America" as part of his ongoing efforts to rebrand American geography. This move follows previous changes he made to the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, and Alaska's Denali mountain, which was renamed Mount McKinley in an executive order signed in January 2025. The proposal has sparked backlash from some, including the group Republicans Against Trump. Tech giants Apple and Google have already updated their maps apps to reflect the new name, but MapQuest refused to do so, instead offering users a version with both names.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-07, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Donald Trump suggested renaming New Mexico to “New America” on Truth Social, sharing a map with the word “Mexico” crossed out and replaced with “America.” This came days after he signed executive orders changing Lake Ontario’s name to Lake America amid tensions with Canada. The state's governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, dismissed the proposal, stating that New Mexico’s name has been established since before the United States existed. Democratic lawmakers criticized Trump for attempting to distract from issues such as rising gas prices and his war in Iran. Google Maps and Apple Maps have not reflected these changes officially, while some users report seeing them due to user edits.

Written for “Trump Renaming New Mexico” on 2026-10-22, grounded in this article and the 15 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump Renaming New Mexico
Politics · 16 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Euronews · 0.91 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 31% hedged 4 of 13 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe President Trump's proposal to rename the state of New Mexico to 'New America' on the same day, as reported in Article A and within days, as reported in Article B.”
Daily Mail · 0.90 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 21% hedged 3 of 14 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles describe President Trump posting a map on Truth Social with New Mexico's name changed to 'New America' on the same day (Sunday)”
The Hindu · 0.90 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 27% hedged 3 of 11 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe the exact same incident: Trump's suggestion to rename New Mexico to 'New America' posted on social media.”
Washington Examiner · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans right further right than this 🔴 8% hedged 1 of 12 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles report on President Trump posting a map on Truth Social with an 'X' through New Mexico and replacing it with 'New America', on the same day (September 6, 2026)”
The Straits Times · 0.87 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 33% hedged 4 of 12 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles describe President Trump's proposal to rename the state of New Mexico as 'New America', which occurred on September 6, 2026”
TIME · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 17% hedged 4 of 24 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe President Trump sharing a map or image of New Mexico renamed as 'New America' on his Truth Social account”
Fox News · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 18 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles report on President Trump's call to rebrand New Mexico as 'New America' and feature the same image of a map with the state's name crossed out and replaced”
The Guardian · 0.85 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 6% hedged 6 of 96 📰 publisher trust 69
“Both articles report on President Trump's proposal to rename New Mexico to 'New America', which was posted by him on social media”
National Post
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 5% hedged 2 of 38 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles mention two separate actions by Trump: renaming Lake Ontario and planning to rename New Mexico”
Times of India
⚖️ Leans strongly right further right than this 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 13 📰 publisher trust 59
“Article A reports on a mayor rejecting a proposal to rename Lake Ontario, while Article B reports on President Trump's suggestion to rename a different body of water (the Gulf of Mexico) and then speculates about renaming New Mexico”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
21
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
10%
2 of 21 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
59/100
The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
16
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-07 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Independent · 2816 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Rachel Dobkin
83 article(s) here · 0 carrying a prediction
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Also by Rachel Dobkin
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 83 articles by Rachel Dobkin →

Topics

America Canada New Mexico Truth Social U.S.

Subjects

Trump PERSON · 10× New Mexico GPE · 5× America GPE · 3× Canada GPE · 3× U.S. GPE · 3× MapQuest ORG · 2× Truth Social ORG · 2× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Mexico GPE · 1× U.S.-Mexico GPE · 1×

Narrative

MapQuest then saw a surge in App Store rankings, with the company’s general manager Doug Berger saying, “We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they're familiar with.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-07

Claims (21 extracted, 2 hedged)

President Donald Trump has already changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario, and now he’s targeting a US state for a rebrand. asserted
he → change → rebrand
Trump is spending the holiday weekend dreaming up his next demand to relabel America’s geography. asserted
Trump → spend → geography
He posted a map on Truth Social Sunday afternoon of New Mexico, but the word Mexico was crossed out and replaced with America. asserted
word → post → America
Relabeling the southwestern state on the U.S.-Mexico border as New America is reminiscent of an executive order he signed early in his second term, in which he changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. asserted
he → relabele → America
In that January 2025 executive order titled “Restoring Names That Honor American Greatness,” Trump also changed the name of North America’s tallest peak, Denali in Alaska, back to Mount McKinley. asserted
Trump → title → McKinley
Trump’s controversial relabeling of America’s geography didn’t stop there. asserted
relabeling → stop → geography
The president signed an executive order late last month changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America amid an escalating trade war with Canada. asserted
president → sign → Canada
Despite Trump repeatedly suggesting Canada become the nation’s 51st state, he recently told Fox News, “They think they’re a state, but they’re not a state. asserted
they → suggest → News
Why should we be subsidizing Canada?” asserted
we → subsidize → Canada
Like Trump’s previous name changes on the U.S. map, his latest push to relabel New Mexico is sure to receive a wave of backlash. asserted
push → relabel → backlash
The group Republicans Against Trump was quick to post on X following Trump’s suggested name change of New Mexico, writing, “WTF is wrong with him?” When the president relabeled Lake Ontario, MapQuest refused to change its navigation app, writing on X, “We’re not changing it.” uncertain
We → post → it
MapQuest then saw a surge in App Store rankings, with the company’s general manager Doug Berger saying, “We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they're familiar with. asserted
they → see → names
“Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right, by downloading our app.” asserted
it → signal → app
But tech giants Apple and Google caved to Trump, switching the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America for U.S. users of their maps apps, just as they did when the president demanded that the Gulf of Mexico be changed to the Gulf of America. asserted
Gulf → cave → America
Conservative journalist Eric Daugherty, however, was seemingly on board with the relabeling of New Mexico, writing on X, “This man is on a roll!” asserted
man → write → roll
Trump’s ambitions to remake Washington, D.C., and the rest of the U.S. as he sees fit apparently go beyond the country, and even the world. asserted
he → remake → country
Shortly after Trump’s post about relabeling New Mexico, he shared an image of the moon on Truth Social, with the caption “The moon is ours.” asserted
moon → relabele → caption
The 80-year-old leader has been heavily focused on his legacy during his second term, not just with changes to the map, but with renovations to the White House, including his massive and expensive ballroom, and the broader D.C. area. asserted
leader → focus → ballroom
He’s also slapped his name and face on several buildings in the nation’s capital, most notably the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. asserted
He → slap → Arts
But a federal judge demanded his name be taken down from the center, and it was removed. asserted
it → demand → center
Meanwhile, 73 percent of Americans say Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems, according to a CNN poll conducted by research firm SSRS and published in late July. uncertain
Trump → say → July
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