Trump Again Urges New Mexico to Rename Itself 'New America'; Governor Has Rejected the Idea
President Donald Trump posted on social media on October 19 again calling on New Mexico to change its name to "New America." The state capital is Santa Fe, in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has previously rejected the proposal.
"New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!" Trump wrote. He said a new name would add value and prestige, raise home values and incomes, and that the state's elections would become honest. He posted shortly before departing the White House for a midterm rally in Kansas. In September, Trump posted a map image with "Mexico" crossed out and "America" written underneath, which the White House account reposted.
Responding in September, Lujan Grisham said New Mexico's name "isn't up for debate — it's been ours since before the United States existed," adding that while the White House was coloring on maps, New Mexico was doing the work. The state's name is written into Article I of its constitution, and any official change would require a state constitutional amendment approved by voters; the president has no authority to rename a state. The Trump administration previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" and Lake Ontario "Lake America" for federal use.
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：新墨西哥州议会大厦，圣菲（资料图）。照片：Wikimedia Commons（CC BY-SA 2.0）。New Mexico State Capitol in Santa Fe (file photo). Photo: Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
