The United States flag and state flag of New Mexico state at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Feburary 10, 2017.Robert Alexander/Getty
In a Truth Social post Monday, President Trump made his most direct demand yet around an ongoing fixation: get “Mexico” out of New Mexico’s name.
The president has posted and spoken repeatedly about his apparently burning desire to see New Mexico redubbed “New America,” dating at least to an early September Truth Social post in which he called the state “one of the great vote cheating states of all time” and shared an AI video of himself slapping a sign reading “America” over “Mexico” on a “Welcome to New Mexico” sign—then doing a celebratory dance to the Village People’s “YMCA”—writing that the change would be “much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State.”
He followed up days later at the GOP’s midterm convention with a reference to his attempts to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and Lake Ontario “Lake America” amid disputes with Mexico and Canada, respectively. Renaming New Mexico, Trump suggested, would follow in that tradition.
Trump has made similar suggestions, including through memes and images, in at least nine other instances, including a series of seven social media posts shortly after his initial suggestion. The latest follows posts insisting that “I’m the one who created the Greatest Economy” and multiple others about Trump’s debunked vandalism allegations about Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.
New Mexico is the site of multiple contested races in November’s midterm elections, including its governorship and the House election for its second congressional district, which Democratic incumbent Rep. Gabe Vasquez won by barely 10,000 votes in 2024. Vasquez’ opponent, Greg Cunningham, trails by four points in the most recent polls; it remains to be seen whether Trump’s proposal will energize New Mexico’s Republican base.
