Donald Trump has doubled down on his latest proposed power grab, embarking on a social media frenzy to show what New Mexico could look like if he renames it “New America.”
With two months until the midterm elections and affordability front of mind for voters, the president spent part of his Monday frenetically posting a series of maps altering the name of the Democrat-led state.
The move came after Trump claimed on Sunday that “many people” had suggested he should change the name of New Mexico, which he described as “one of the great vote cheating states of all time”.
“So much more prestigious and beautiful for the people of that potentially incredible State,” he said of the proposed name change. “Wow, I Love It!!!”
But the state’s Democratic governor Michelle Lujan Grisham slammed the idea, just as Canadian president Mark Carney did last week when Trump renamed Lake Ontario as “Lake America”.
“New Mexico’s name isn’t up for debate — it’s been ours since before the United States existed,” What is up for debate? Who’s showing up for working families,” Lujan Grisham said in a post on the social platform X on Sunday.
The New Mexico tirade wasn’t Trump’s only social media on Monday.
He also put out an AI-generated post of himself arm wrestling with the late wrestler Hulk Hogan; another self-soothing image showing Iran’s navy at the bottom of the ocean; and a picture of former president Barack Obama looking in a mirror with Trump staring back at him.
“Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s the greatest president of them all,” it read.
To mark Labor Day - a public holiday designed to honor the labor movement and workers - the billionaire president also wrote a typically incendiary greeting.
“Happy Labor Day to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics, Communists, and Dumocrats who will do anything possible to destroy our Country,” he said.
“These Deranged People, after fighting for 10 years, should finally acknowledge that your Favorite President (ME!), knows how to WIN! They should be exhausted by now but, sadly, they’re not. They’re going to give it one last shot at ruining America, but we’re not going to let that happen. We’re going to win the Midterms, BIG, and SAVE AMERICA!”
Based in America’s southwest, New Mexico is home to about 2.1 million people, and received its name from Spanish explorers who named the region “Nuevo México” in the 16th century.
The push to rename the state seemed to emerge over the weekend when a debunked online hoax spread that Trump had signed an executive order changing the state’s name.
This had not happened, but the president nonetheless jumped on the idea to rile Democrats, and doubled down again on Monday.
But with the midterms in two months, some Republicans have started to question if the president is deliberately trying to sabotage the GOP by constantly focusing on “distractions” such as renaming Lake Ontario and New Mexico, or obsessing over vanity projects such as the White House ballroom or the Kennedy Center.
“These are not helping the president or his party. It’s hurting his own team,” former Republican Congressman and anti-Trumper Charlie Dent told MSNOW.
“It’s almost like there’s an intentional act to undermine your own party’s prospects in the midterms.”
Trump, however, has insisted he wants to help his party at the midterms, even though he personally is not on the ballot.
He has urged Republicans in swing districts to campaign on his record, which is risky in itself given his approval ratings currently hover at around 33 percent—a record low.
Trump will head to Texas on Wednesday to headline the party’s first midterm convention, but this too has divided the Republicans, with many lawmakers and candidates opting to skip the event.
With days before the so-called “Trump-a-palooza” gathering in Dallas, organizers have been pulling all stops to fill seats, including opening up a lottery for the public with the promise of VIP treatment, urging GOP operatives to give away passes to the two-day event, and blasting out unsolicited text messages screaming “FREE TICKETS” with links to the convention’s registration page.
