What’s in a Name – Trump Style

After years of insisting that names are fluid, the left suddenly discovers tradition when Trump picks the name.

Brian C. Joondeph | September 7, 2026

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a forlorn Juliet implores Romeo to give up his family name, that of a family rival to hers. She asks him, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

The same could be said about large bodies of water, still wet and deep regardless of what President Donald Trump names them by executive order.

Most recently, Trump renamed Lake Ontario to Lake America, after renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America last year.

Image created by ChatGPT

These name changes will be insignificant footnotes in world history, unlike, say, the Louisiana Purchase or America’s purchase of Alaska from Russia.

Yet Democrats and others on the left are acting as if America invaded and conquered Canada.

The New York Times solemnly bemoaned, “Lake Ontario didn’t ask for this.” The Washington Post warned, “Trump’s push to rename Lake Ontario raises a troubling question.”

First of all, lakes don’t talk and don’t pick their names. Or their genders.

Back in 2015, when President Obama renamed Mount McKinley to Denali, all the New York Times had to say was, “Mount McKinley to be renamed Denali.”

Did Mount McKinley ask for this? The Gray Lady was mum on that question.

The Washington Post had no “troubling question” in 2015, simply and refreshingly reporting the news: “Obama will rename the highest U.S. peak, dropping McKinley for Denali.” Troubling questions died in darkness. 

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis recommended that Colorado’s Mount Evans be renamed Mount Blue Sky because territorial governor John Evans played a role in events surrounding the 1864 Sand Creek Massacre.

The Denver neighborhood of Stapleton was renamed Central Park through the efforts of community organizers and activists because former multiple-term Denver Mayor Benjamin Stapleton had once been a member of........

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