President Donald Trump has done it again β dropped a social media grenade and stepped back to watch the reaction. This time the target is New Mexico, which the former president mused should be renamed “New America” in a Truth Social post, according to American Thinker.
The post, shared by the president and reported on by the conservative outlet, reads in part: “Many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico, one of the great vote cheating states of all time, to NEW AMERICA. So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!”
The suggestion β landing somewhere between a genuine proposal and an unmistakable troll β immediately drew fire from critics who pointed out a rather inconvenient historical detail: The name “New Mexico” predates the United States itself.
A name older than the nation
American Thinker’s Eric Utter took umbrage with the framing, arguing that the president’s suggestion ignores the region’s deep roots. “You think ‘New Mexico’ has been yours since before the U.S. existed? Tells us a lot about you,” Utter wrote, pushing back against the notion that the state’s name is somehow up for grabs as a piece of American branding.
The columnist’s retort lands on a point historians would likely back: The territory now known as New Mexico was called Nuevo MΓ©xico by Spanish colonists in the 16th century, centuries before the United States acquired the land. The name has survived Spanish rule, Mexican independence, and eventual U.S. statehood in 1912.
A satirical list of other targets
Utter didn’t stop at the history lesson. Instead, he leaned into the absurdity of the exercise, offering up a laundry list of other “New” names that might just as easily fall under a rechristening campaign.
“There is a nearly endless list of places, entities, and things The Great Name Changer could rename. Why not rename New England ‘New America’? And the New England Patriots to the New American Patriots? Does that not sound Trumpian?” he wrote.
The columnist continued the bit, suggesting New York City could be rebranded as the “New American City,” adding a pointed jab about the city’s mayor. From there, he rattled off a string of place names β New Orleans, New Castle, New London, New Ulm, New Haven, New Bedford, New Rochelle β asking rhetorically whether all of them could be renamed by executive order.
Geese, soft drinks, and bacon walk into a bar
Utter’s piece then spiraled into full satirical territory, predicting a wave of “America-first” renames for everyday items and animals. He quipped it was only a matter of time before Trump rechristened Canadian geese as “American geese” and Canada Dry soft drinks as something considerably more aggressive. Canadian bacon, he suggested, would be rebranded too.
From there, the column took a sharper turn, musing that Canada might pull its own products from grocery stores “to avoid offending” its “rapidly burgeoning Muslim population,” closing the thought with a sardonic jab about pork and an “eh, hoser” sign-off.
Part of a pattern β or just today’s meme?
Trump’s habit of floating provocative name changes is not new. The former president has shown a consistent appetite for renaming things, from military bases to mountains, often framing such moves as patriotic corrections to a country he says has lost its way.
His New Mexico post appears to fit that mold β tying the renaming idea to an attack on the state’s election integrity, which he has repeatedly alleged without providing evidence, a claim that remains unsubstantiated.
For his supporters, the post reads as classic Trump β irreverent, confrontational, and deliberately provocative. For his critics, and for columnists like Utter, it reads as a substitute for substance, a rhetorical flex that conveniently ignores history and offers nothing in the way of actual policy.
The deeper stakes buried in the joke
Beneath the mockery, Utter’s piece gestures at a real tension. New Mexico is a state with a majority Latino population, a long indigenous history, and a culture that predates the American republic. Suggesting its name be changed to “New America” β in the service of a political jab about election fraud β can easily be read as dismissive of that heritage.
Utter, an avowed conservative writing for a conservative outlet, is hardly a Trump loyalist in this instance. His pushback is notable precisely because it comes from the right, illustrating that even among conservative ranks, the “name change” game can go a step too far when it tramples on a place’s actual history.
Whether Trump’s suggestion was ever meant seriously is another question. Deliver a line like “New America” with enough gusto, and the crowd either laughs along or takes the bait. In this case, the bait was taken β and the response was a reminder that some names carry more weight than any executive order could erase.
As for the state itself, there’s been no indication from New Mexico officials that they’re drafting a change-of-name bill. And given the source of the suggestion, that’s probably for the best.
Source: www.americanthinker.com β https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/09/trump-trolls-new-mexico/