President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 20 that declared the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed to Gulf of America as a part of an initiative to “restore American pride in the history of American greatness.” This decision reflects stereotypical U.S. chauvinism and imperial pursuits.
The Gulf of Mexico has been renamed to Gulf of America on Google Maps. Big tech companies, like Google, capitulating to Trump administration demands has also been a recurring theme since he was inaugurated. This decision, however, only applies to American users. For non-Americans, it appears as, “Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America),” when searched for on Google Maps.
According to a HuffPost article, Google Maps has also been deleting one-star reviews for the location. It’s also no longer possible to leave a review on it at all.
Furthermore, Trump has declared that Feb. 9 is now “Gulf of America Day” and should be, “observed with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities,” though not elaborating on what any of that means. It’s hard to imagine even Trump’s most staunch supporters being on board with celebrating “Gulf of America Day” every year, much less anyone else.
As of Feb. 14, Trump has even gone so far as to ban Associated Press from entering the Oval Office due to their insistence on continuing to use “Gulf of Mexico” instead, according to a Variety article. Arguably, this is a repression of freedom of speech. While not issuing an outright ban on AP, banning them from reporting from within the White House over a name is still a step too far.
U.S. imperialism isn’t new, nor exclusive to the Trump administration. Since the Cold War, it’s an open secret that the CIA and the U.S. military, with the collaboration of certain corporations, have forcefully intervened in foreign affairs in the name of “protecting democracy.” The renaming of the Gulf of Mexico is simply a side-effect of this history.
That being said, it’s true the Trump administration has been flirting with the idea of annexing Greenland, Panama, and Canada without any justification. Trump has even gone on the record saying that he wants Canada to be the 51st state. The Gulf of Mexico being renamed so quickly and without resistance is an understandable concern, especially with Trump’s pattern of behavior, but it doesn’t come close to the worst American foreign policy action.
It seems as though democratic officials are only feigning concern about this order. Whenever Trump does something objectionable, they like to use it as leverage over their increasingly disillusioned voter base instead of proposing solutions to the problem. It’s not whataboutism to say that Democrats should be just as concerned with our history of mistreatment towards our Latin American neighbors. The only real difference, this time, is that Trump is saying the quiet part out loud.
Trump’s bizarre, unnecessary decision is American exceptionalism in its most docile form. Like most forms of imperialism, nobody is being helped by this. It’s not making the price of eggs go down or fixing potholes. It’s simply an ego boost for Trump and his administrators and for them to leave some kind of legacy. It’s all very performative, and admittedly, isn’t directly harming anyone. Still, it’s important to recognize the dark context from which actions like these stem from.
