Trump demands New Mexico be renamed "New America" immediately

US President Donald Trump, in a Truth Social post on Monday, October 19, demanded that the state of New Mexico be renamed New America immediately.

We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!

Donald Trump

Trump wrote that the new name would bring great value and prestige to the state, that home values and incomes would rise, and that citizens would feel prouder saluting the flag. He also claimed New Mexico is known for "crooked elections" and said that if the name changes, elections might become honest again. He offered no evidence for the claim and did not explain how a name change would raise home prices and incomes.

Reaction from the state

The state constitution says, "The name of this state is New Mexico." Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said the name is not up for debate and that it belonged to the state before the United States was founded. She criticized the White House for spending time coloring in maps instead of working on areas such as child care, education, health and housing. Senator Martin Heinrich said he would keep using the real names for the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario and New Mexico. Senator Ben Ray Luján said the state's name is New Mexico and will always remain so.

The issue had come up before

The issue first surfaced in September, when Trump shared a map in which the word "Mexico" was crossed out in red and "America" written in its place. The White House also reposted the map from its official account. The proposal follows Trump's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America. New Mexico became the 47th US state on January 6, 1912.