A recent Truth Social post from President Trump has New Mexican leaders riled up. The post, which showed an image of “New Mexico” crossed out and replaced with “New America,” is highly contentious and illustrates the President’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, according to KOAT-TV, Albuquerque.
Dr. Daniel Gomez, assistant professor of political communication, public opinion and American politics at New Mexico State University, said not to worry about a potential name change from President Trump.
“In the real world, there is no way for Trump to legitimately change the name of a state,” Gomez said. “State names can be changed via conjunction between the state government itself and Congress.”
It is evident from some New Mexican lawmakers, such U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez, they would not agree to a name change.
“New Mexico is and always will be New Mexico…our name, history and culture are not up for debate,” Vasquez said, as reported by KOAT.
The very name of New Mexico holds major cultural significance: being named “Nuevo Mexico” in 1598 by Spanish settlers “…after the Aztec Valley of the Rio Grande River in Mexico,” according to World Atlas. This name has tied New Mexico to its southern neighbor, even though New Mexico is not a part of Mexico. In fact, as said by World Atlas, “New Mexico was established and named 223 years before the naming of Mexico in 1821.”
That’s also 178 years before the term “United States of America” was first used by the Second Continental Congress in 1776.
The ties with the name Mexico, however, continue to reflect the culture of the state. With a combination of “Indian [Native American], Spanish and Anglo culture,” as stated by iExplore, New Mexico is one of the most diverse states in the country. The state’s Native population includes “23 Native American Tribes, Pueblos, and Nations which have their own languages, different cultures, governments, laws, and visitor policies,” according to NewMexico.org.
Despite these deep roots, New Mexicans have responded to Trump’s attempt with a laugh, as Gomez said, “No New Mexican elected official has called for this. I don’t know a single New Mexican who looks at this as anything but a joke…”
According to The Guardian, Democrats believe this is all a distraction tactic from the unpopular Iran War.
“The way I see it, there are two plausible explanations,” Gomez said. “This is a distraction tactic, or perhaps a joke in which Trump is ‘trolling,’” or “this is a serious attempt by a President to change the name of a state.”
President Trump’s attempt to change the name of New Mexico to “New America” appears profoundly unpopular, especially in New Mexico, and will most likely not reach the point of legislation.
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