Turning the Gulf of Mexico Into the Dead Sea

In August 1492, Christopher Columbus left Castile, Spain, and two and a half months later, he landed in what is now the Bahamas. The people he encountered were the Arawak people, an indigenous group spread among the many islands. “Arawak” is a word derived from their primary crop, cassava root, which they survived on along with other plants, hunting and fishing.

As Columbus traveled from those islands to others in the Caribbean, including Cuba, Hispaniola, and Grenada, believing he had reached India, he called the people “Indians,” and the term wound up being used for people who had been in the Western world for 13,000 years and had their own cultures, languages, societies, economies, and laws.

It was also completely wrong. Columbus, idiot that he was, remained steadfast that he had reached Asia for the rest of his contemptible life, although most navigators of the day would have known better. I’m not kidding, man. This was one cruel son of a bitch who deserves absolutely none of the heralding he has been given in contemporary elementary education.

So it shouldn’t be lost on us that Columbus’ attitude is shared by Donald Trump, who decided the name Gulf of Mexico should be “Gulf of America.”

His sentiment, frankly, is the same narcissism that Columbus exhibited when he decided that the Arawak were Indians. However, there is no way they did not, at some point, indicate to him that they had their own identity. Just as they knew who they were for generations, the Gulf of Mexico has borne the same name for hundreds of years.

According to historical records, in 1508 Spanish explorer Sebastián de Ocampo came across the gulf as he rounded the western end of Cuba. He called the body of water Golfo de la Nueva España or, for short, Seno Mejicano – literally translated, Bay or Gulf of Mexico. It has been recognized by every nation this way since that time.

Sovereign identity mattered to Columbus about as much as the historical record matters to Trump. While the former was driven by greed for gold as he enslaved, tortured, and killed people in the New World, Trump is driven by his own agenda, which is why he feels he has the authority to simply change the name of an internationally recognized body of water to suit his pleasure.

Who’s on First (Amendment)

The arrogance even extends to the press. Too many once-trusted outlets of the Fourth Estate have already forgotten their ethics and integrity and capitulated to Trump’s whims, but one at least stands on business. The Associated Press has correctly chosen to continue to refer in its stylebook to the body as the Gulf of Mexico, based on its international recognition and the fact that it is a news agency accountable to its paying members first, not politicians.

The result? The White House has indefinitely banned the AP from the Oval Office and Air Force One, keeping them from being present with Trump at critical moments and relegating them to press briefings. Because the AP is the largest news organization in the world, and its members depend on them to have reporters in spaces like this, by punishing the AP, Trump is cutting off his own ability to communicate with a mass audience. A boycott of all media in these spaces was called for, but right-wing outlets like Fox, Newsmax, and One America, which would never question a word Trump says, no matter how preposterous, would be left to misrepresent a fact or outright spread misinformation. So, in such a scenario, nobody wins.

Full disclosure: I once worked for the AP as a reporter in its New York City bureau. While I was there, I was around not only some of the best journalists I’ve ever known but some genuinely decent human beings as well. This wasn’t an organization of people that sat around and planned how they would screw with politicians. Integrity came first there as a principle. So, it’s no surprise that they’re not stepping back when it comes to how their stylebook advises writers.

While other news organizations, along with tech giants Apple and Google, have sold out, others are sticking with the program. WorldAtlas.com is keeping the original name, while Wikipedia redirects to it from the renaming. This is smart because it also has an article about a small body of water in Russia that is historically called the Gulf of America. Surprisingly enough, the National Parks Service still uses the original name, while Britannica seems to be trying to use both to please everyone.

Newspeak 2025

So where is this all going? For me, I fear it sets a precedent that could be increasingly dangerous. Who’s to say he won’t tell the US Geological Service to change the Atlantic Ocean to “American Ocean?” He calls Canada the 51st state. Maybe he thinks he can declare victory over them and call the land “America Junior.” Why stop there? Why not rename whole planets? Since he thinks he runs the world anyway, rename the Earth “Trumpia” and call Mars “Donaldooine.” Maybe even rename Uranus “Elon” for obvious reasons.

In fact, given recent events, what’s to stop him from officially recognizing African Americans as “colored”?

My point here is that if you believe you can declare the historical name of a body of water nullified, that you can march 2 million people out of Gaza to make the land resort property, and that transgender people no longer exist, you probably think you can rearrange reality at your whim. This would be no different than the “newspeak” and “unperson” concepts from George Orwell’s 1984.

In that book, the governmental authorities, known colloquially as “Big Brother” made changes to what was officially true in almost every chapter. Dissent was met with subjugation, imprisonment, and in the most extreme cases, torture to the point of submission. It no longer seems so far-fetched that this could come to pass because of the Trump regime’s authoritarian stance. So who’s to say journalists won’t be jailed and disappear the way they do in dictatorships just for not toeing the line when he snaps his fingers?

Mexico, of course, isn’t changing anything, and neither is Cuba or any other country on the international stage. They don’t have the patience for this stupidity and have more pressing issues. But for us, this is more than just a name change. He’s already shown he has no respect for the rule of law, established government structure, or even individual city governmental affairs. This is one more sign of a man who wishes to flex his power and his willingness to punish detractors.

Madison Gray is a New York City-based writer and editor whose work has appeared in multiple publications globally. Reach out to him at madison@starkravingmadison.com.