(Gray News) – The governor of New Mexico is responding to President Donald Trump’s post on social media Monday calling for the state to change its name to “New America.”
Trump said in a post on Truth Social, “New Mexico should immediately change its name to New America. We are not Mexico, we are the United States of America!”
The president claimed that home values and incomes would rise because of the change, but cited no evidence.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham responded on social media saying, “This tired New American bit again? You have to ask — what policy failure is Trump trying to distract Americans from this time?”
Grisham said New Mexico was New Mexico before the United States existed. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, its name dates back to the 16th century.
“And while we’re talking about our great state, Americans should also know we’ve been busy delivering universal, no cost childcare,” Grisham said. “We’re also the only state that fully replaced health care subsidies that were gutted by Trump and congressional Republicans.”
Trump previously suggested renaming New Mexico in September.
He signed an executive order in August to change the name of Lake Ontario to “Lake America” as part of his ongoing trade war with Canada.
He took similar action last year to rename the Gulf of Mexico to “Gulf of America.”
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