Remember that beautiful trip to Lake America? After this summer, you may. While he wages a war of words with Canada, President Donald Trump directed U.S. federal agencies now use “Lake America” in official correspondence and mapping data.
So, what's next?
First of all, let's remember what the president has already renamed, sometimes during fits of pique over the refusal of other nations to capitulate to U.S. demands, other times to project might, and thirdly to put his own name in the title.
The Gulf of Mexico became the Gulf of America. North America’s tallest peak went from Denali to Mount McKinley. North Carolina's military base returned to Fort Bragg from Fort Liberty. The U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters in Washington was rebranded as the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.
The airport in Palm Beach near his home at Mar-a-Lago was renamed the Donald J. Trump International Airport. Not to be outdone, the four-mile stretch of formerly Southern Boulevard connecting the airport to Mar-a-Lago was officially renamed the Donald J. Trump Boulevard.
Trump attempted to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, but has thus far been stymied via the court system.
But the Department of Defense did become the Department of War.
As for the next renaming on his agenda, Trump himself said this.
“We have a gulf and we have a lake,” Trump said after signing the executive order for Lake America. “Now all we need is an ocean. Maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.”
As U.S News and World Report noted, "the president did not propose any potential names at the time, but it’s clear that his work to reshape the country’s geographical icons is far from over."
They added that "Trump earlier this year reportedly let it be known that he would hold back critical federal infrastructure dollars from a massive rail tunnel project connecting New York and New Jersey unless Pennsylvania Station in New York City and Washington Dulles International Airport in Northern Virginia were both renamed in his honor. A federal judge ordered the funds released, but it remains to be seen if Trump resumes the effort."
Continuing what appears to be a Kennedy name fixation, the White House has said it would be "beautiful" if the multibillion-dollar stadium for the NFL’s Washington football team on the site of the former Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium became the Donald J Trump Stadium. That comes from an ESPN report.
But for every tit, there's a tat. Ottawa City Council voted unanimously to take a first step toward renaming their Trump Avenue. The current suggestions for rebranding the residential street that has carried the president’s name for 25 years are either Taco Avenue or Obama Avenue.
