The 620,000-square-mile body of water that borders Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas has been called the Gulf of New Spain, Gulf of Florida and Gulf of Cortés. But by the 17th century, the name Gulf of Mexico had widespread acceptance, standardized on maps worldwide.

A tale of cultural exchange and colonial ambition has played out in the Gulf ever since Ponce de Leon sailed in from Spain in 1513, but this watery tapestry reached a new moment on Feb. 18 when the president of the United States surprised the mapmakers — and the public.

From what used to be a pulpit and is now a throne, Donald Trump decided to make America imperial again, renaming the Gulf.

“We’re very proud of this country, and we want it to be the Gulf of America,” he said in announcing an executive order.

Google, the search monster, went along with the change. But the not-for-profit Associated Press did not.

AP, one of the largest newsgathering agencies in the world, reaching 4 billion people a day, got into a food fight with the sensitive new president. No, this is not a Saturday Night Live skit. This is the Trump administration.

We can scratch our heads, laugh, or ignore this latest edict from the man who calls himself the king. But when the AP decided it would not go along with the name change, the president rebelled.

He banned the Associated Press from entering the White House pressroom and booted them off Air Force One. If you’re not in the White House, you can’t ask questions or hear the presidential edicts, policies, ridiculousness or profound statements about the changing tone of America’s view of the rest of the world. But the AP — with 235 bureaus in 94 countries — was given the boot.

© The Leader