President Donald Trump revealed that he had really wanted to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of Trump, but settled on the “Gulf of America” instead.
“I was going to call it the Gulf of Trump, but I thought I would be killed if I did that,” Trump said during a lengthy White House press briefing on Tuesday.
“I wanted to do it, I wanted to. My people worked so hard—‘Sir, I don’t think it’ll look too good,’” Trump said. “‘I’m telling you, it’s a good thing.’ No, but I decided not to do that.”
Trump, 79, then claimed he was “joking,” and that he was “not going to call it the Gulf of Trump,” he said. He added that he wanted to avoid potential negative headlines if he were to do that.
“The Gulf of Trump. That does have a good ring, though. Maybe we could do that. It’s not too late,” he said, adding, “We have the Gulf of America now, it’s great.”
Despite Trump’s claim that he was kidding about wanting to rename the Gulf of Mexico after himself, he has a proven track record of naming things after himself.
The Trump administration has claimed to have renamed federal buildings after Trump, including the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center. The name changes have not been confirmed by Congress, however, which is needed in order to officially rename federal buildings.
The Trump administration has also named several of its ventures after the president, including the yet-to-be-released “Trump Accounts” for children born between 2025 and 2028, and $1 million “Trump Gold Cards” for visa seekers.
An administration official said last week that the public could soon expect “Trump cards” from banks as Trump pushes for a credit card interest rate cap.
The president has also slapped his face on the America the Beautiful National Parks pass and the proposed 2026 semiquincentennial $1 coin.
As it relates to the Gulf of Mexico, Trump said he was “always bothered” by the name.
“I’d say, you know, we have most of the shoreline. Mexico has a small percentage. It talks about 8 percent. We have 92 percent. And I said, why? Why is it the Gulf of Mexico? It should be the Gulf of America,” Trump claimed.
In reality, the water and shoreline between the U.S. and Mexico in the Gulf are nearly evenly shared between the two countries. Cuba claims a little over five percent of the waters as well.
The post Trump Reveals Bonkers Rename He Really Wanted to Give Gulf of Mexico appeared first on The Daily Beast.
