WASHINGTON — President Trump is not merely looking to make waves. He appears determined to put his name on them.
At a rally Saturday, Trump floated the possibility of renaming both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans after himself, the latest in a series of efforts to leave his mark on the map.
“We’ve got the Gulf, we’ve got a beautiful lake, and now someone said, ‘You need a river,’ so I don’t wanna change the name of the Hudson River,” Trump said during the rally in Clarksville, Tennessee. “Henry Hudson, he did a good job sailing up that sucker a long time ago.
“So, we need a river; we need an ocean,” he continued. “So, I was thinking of either the Atlantic or the Pacific. We call it Trump Ocean or Ocean of the Americans, something like that.
“No, before I get out, I think we should have an ocean, and we need a great river. Now, I’m not changing the name of the Mississippi. I love Mississippi. We won that state by so much.”
Trump has already moved to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” and Lake Ontario “Lake America.” The proposed lake name came in retaliation amid trade tensions with Canada.
Some of those ideas initially appeared to be jokes, only for Trump to later sign executive orders aimed at putting the proposed name changes into effect.
Trump has also suggested renaming New Mexico “New America” and the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait.” He has not acted on either proposal so far.
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The former real estate mogul, who built his brand by placing his name on properties, has also pushed to rename prominent government institutions and structures after himself.
Last year, his administration renamed the Institute of Peace headquarters the “Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace.” The move came as Trump was waging a highly public campaign to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump had intervened in several overseas conflicts while seeking to end them, apparently with the additional goal of earning the prestigious award.
After Trump ordered the capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, prominent opposition leader María Corina Machado gave him the Nobel Peace Prize she had received.
Although Trump now technically possesses a Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Machado, he has continued to criticize the Norwegian Nobel Committee for declining to give him the honor himself.
“This is the woman who received the Nobel Peace Prize over the Great United States of America, whose Representative, ME, settled eight Wars, and many other things,” Trump wrote angrily on Truth Social on Friday, alongside a photo of the latest prize winner, Navi Pillay.
“I know nothing about this woman, and neither does anyone else!”
Beyond the Institute of Peace, Trump has sought to rename the Kennedy Center after himself. A judge blocked that effort, after which his administration placed a tarp over part of the facility.
Trump was later seen reviewing demolition plans for the Kennedy Center, though courts have since ordered his administration to provide 30 days’ notice before making major changes to the facility.
Trump has suggested that demolishing the iconic national cultural center could be necessary because of damage he says was caused by storms.
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