Right-wing media pundits often attack liberals and progressives for excessive language-policing, and even some Americans known for voting Democrat — including veteran Democratic strategist James Carville and "Real Time" host Bill Maher — have the same complaint. Yet the MAGA movement, according to President Donald Trump's critics, engages in language-policing as well. And Trump and his allies are making a concerted effort to get people to start saying "Gulf of America" instead of "Gulf of Mexico" — even going so far as to ban an Associated Press (AP) reporter from White House press briefings for not making the change.
During a Friday morning, May 9 broadcast, CNN's Harry Enten addressed Trump's "Gulf of America" campaign—and stressed that it isn't going well at all.
When CNN host John Berman asked Enten how much "Gulf of America" has "seeped into the consciousness," Enten replied, "Let's just put it this way: It has bounced. It's like I'm wearing waterproof clothing; if the water was coming down on me and it was Gulf of Mexico, it bounces right off of me. It has gone horribly. This bounce is terrible."
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Enten made his point by showing Berman online data.
Since February, Enten noted, "Gulf of Mexico" has been receiving way more Google searches than "Gulf of America" — and this is true in all 50 states.
"So the bottom line is despite whatever Trump wants to say at this particular point, when it comes to what Americans are actually using, they are sticking with the old name," Enten told Berman. "They are sticking with the Gulf of Mexico. They are not, in any state, going with the Gulf of America. It is 50 to none — a blowout in favor of the Gulf of Mexico over the Gulf of America ….. In every single state, more folks are typing 'Gulf of Mexico in order to search for that body of water underneath our southern border compared to the Gulf of America. Zero states."
Enten also cited polling data. In a poll conducted by right-wing Fox News in March, 67 percent of respondents opposed renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America — while only 31 percent were in favor of it.
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Enten told Berman, "The bottom line is Donald Trump has been trying, over the last three months, to sell this idea that we're going to make the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, but there is no indication that it's actually seeping in to the American consciousness."
Watch the full video below or at this link.