A liberal comedian’s 15-year-old satirical suggestion to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America” has gotten a massive boost from President-elect Donald Trump.
Trump at a news conference on Tuesday said it would be a “beautiful name” for the body of water that’s bordered to the north by the United States’ southern coast, from Texas around to Florida. It also wraps around Mexico’s Yucatan Penninsula.
A federal board has the power to rename geographic places within the United States, and Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene immediately promised to introduce a law to execute the plan. Those changes would not necessarily be binding on the states bordering the gulf or for other countries.
“We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring,” Trump said. “The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name, and it’s appropriate.”
According to federal officials, over the last six centuries, the gulf also been known as the Golfo de Nueva España (The Gulf of New Spain) and Mar Di Florida (the Florida Sea), among others, reflecting its long-contested history between France, Spain and other European countries as they colonized the New World.
The gulf’s shoreline is about 3,540 miles, more than half of it bordering Mexico’s coast, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, although that does not account for the myriad bays and inlets.
Trump’s comments came in the context of discussing his plans to overturn new offshore…
