Trump’s 'Gulf of America' obsession may have started 15 years ago — with Stephen Colbert

24 February

President Donald Trump's push to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" is drawing plenty of mockery from his critics, who consider it a silly and pointless exercise in language policing — something MAGA Republicans often accuse the left of doing.

But Trump takes it quite seriously — so serious, in fact, that he was willing to bar an Associated Press (AP) reporter from White House press briefings for refusing to use "Gulf of America."

"Gulf of Mexico" is official AP style, and AP is vowing to keep using it. Moreover, AP filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration on February 21; the case is Associated Press v. Taylor Budowich, Karoline Leavitt and Susan Wiles.

The Washington Post's Matt Viser examines the origins of the "Gulf of America" push in an article published on February 24. According to Viser, it may have started as "political satire" 15 years ago.

"Like many of Trump's ideas," Viser explains, "it is difficult to pinpoint where exactly he got the inspiration. Television host Stephen Colbert had made it a bit of political satire nearly 15 years earlier. A Democratic lawmaker in Mississippi had filed legislation to rename the coast off his state in 2012, also as a joke. Conservative voices, for months, had been promoting it as a way to showcase American pride and dominance. But it was Trump, weeks before taking office, who ultimately decided to add the renaming to his Day 1 agenda, elevating a liberal joke turned conservative meme into an Oval Office action that has come to symbolize the tenor of his new presidency."

Trump, Viser notes, "has reveled in" in the "Gulf of America" controversy by "seizing on the symbolism, riling up his base and eagerly antagonizing those he deems to be his opponents." But when Colbert first used the words "Gulf of America'" back in 2010, the Post reporter points out, it was pure satire.

"In 2010, shortly after a BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast," Viser recalls, "Colbert used his satirical persona on his show on Comedy Central to raise money for those affected. He called it 'The Colbert Nation Gulf of America Fund.'"

Viser adds, "Colbert explained on air that he had made a deal with Microsoft, with the company agreeing to donate $2500 to the fund each time he said the word 'Bing' to draw attention to the company's online search engine. He said the word 40 times, bringing in $100,000."

Colbert told viewers, "I don’t think we can call it the Gulf of Mexico anymore. We broke it, we bought it.”

Matt Viser' full Washington Post article is available at this link.

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