‘Oh Hell No!’ New Mexico Lawmakers Go Nuts on Trump Floating State Rebrand to ‘New America’

(AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Several Democratic lawmakers from New Mexico immediately let President Donald Trump know on Sunday they did not appreciate his idea to rename the state to “New America,” with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham leading the charge by saying the name “isn’t up for debate.” 

Grisham posted on Facebook the state has been named New Mexico longer than the U.S. has been a country — and she saw no good reason to change it now. She said Trump was simply trying to “distract” the American public from his “disastrous” Iran war and “soaring” gas prices by floating the rebrand.

Her response came a few hours after the president posted a map of New Mexico on Truth Social with the word “Mexico” crossed out and replaced with “America” — unofficially rechristening the state New America.

The joke — or what is assumed by Mediaite to be a joke at this point — obviously comes after the whole Lake Ontario-Lake America hubbub in August. Trump’s name swap was celebrated by many MAGA fans, but a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed it was not very popular with most Americans.

Canadians like Ontario Premier Doug Ford griped about it as well, telling ABC News last week “no one” would call it Lake America.

As for Trump’s New America post, Grisham wasn’t the only New Mexican irked by it.

“Oh hell no!” Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) posted on X.

She added, “Our state’s name carries generations of history, culture, and family—and it belongs to us. We’re New Mexicans. Period.”

Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-NM) was just as defiant, sending out a statement saying Trump does not get to “erase” the state’s history.

And Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) declared there is no way he is going along with New America, just like the other name changes Trump has made since he returned to the White House.

“Three things I will always call by their actual names… The Gulf of Mexico, Lake Ontario, New Mexico,” he said.

Trump apparently heard the criticism, because he doubled down on his plan in another post on Truth Social later in the day. His post showed an AI video of Trump going up to a sign reading “Welcome to New Mexico” and slapping a sticker reading “America” over “Mexico” on it; Trump then broke into his “YMCA” dance to celebrate. The video was posted by a Trump a few hours after it was created by X user “Gizmo Memes.”

“Many people suggested changing the name of New Mexico, one of the great vote cheating states of all time, to NEW AMERICA,” Trump captioned his post. “So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State. Wow, I Love It!!!”

Check it out via the X post above.

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