Trump Tricked In To Posting What?

President Donald Trump has fueled a new round of discussion over the name of New Mexico after sharing a map that jokingly labeled the state “New America” — days after a false claim about him officially changing the state’s name spread across social media.

Trump posted the altered map on Truth Social on Sunday. The image crossed out the word “Mexico” in New Mexico and replaced it with “America.” The White House later shared the same image on X.

The post came after an online claim circulated that Trump had signed an executive order changing New Mexico’s name to “New America.” The claim was false. According to Snopes, the rumor began with a Sept. 1 social media post from a satirical account before spreading to other platforms.

Rather than simply dismissing the idea, Trump appeared to embrace the joke. Later Sunday, he said that people had suggested changing the state’s name and described “New America” as a more prestigious name for the state.

The post quickly drew reactions from New Mexico lawmakers, who rejected the suggestion that the state’s name should be changed.

Sen. Martin Heinrich, a Democrat from New Mexico, pointed to the names of the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario and New Mexico as names he said he would continue using. Rep. Melanie Stansbury also objected, arguing that the state’s name is tied to its history, culture and families.

Rep. Gabe Vasquez, another New Mexico Democrat, similarly pushed back on the idea, saying the president could not erase the state’s name, history or culture.

Not everyone in Congress dismissed the idea. Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah responded to Trump’s post by saying that “New America” was catchy.

The exchange comes as Trump has pursued other controversial changes involving geographic names. Earlier this year, his administration moved to rename Lake Ontario “Lake America,” following Trump’s previous effort to change the official federal name of the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.”

Those decisions have generated criticism both inside and outside the United States.

The Gulf of Mexico name change prompted a dispute involving Google Maps after the company changed the name displayed for U.S. users. Mexican officials objected to the change, arguing that the United States could not unilaterally determine what the body of water should be called internationally.

The Lake Ontario proposal has also drawn resistance from Canadian officials and Indigenous leaders. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said the lake’s existing name remains in use, while the Seneca Nation has argued that the proposed change conflicts with historical agreements connected to the region.

The latest controversy is different in one important respect: there is no indication that New Mexico has actually been renamed. The claim that Trump had already signed an order doing so was a social media hoax, and the map Trump shared afterward was a response to that online claim rather than evidence of an official name change.

For now, New Mexico remains New Mexico — but Trump’s decision to share the altered map has turned a debunked internet rumor into another political and cultural flashpoint.