Nobel economist offers new name changes to satisfy Trump’s obsession

Earlier this week, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for Lake Ontario to be renamed Lake America in the United States. The move followed another name change that set off a lot of heated debates: Trump's executive order, in 2025, to change the Gulf of Mexico's name to the Gulf of America. And Trump's fixation with name changes is the subject of a scathing parody by liberal economist Paul Krugman in a Friday column posted on his Substack page.

Trump's Lake Ontario order came during a week in which his trade war with Canada escalated considerably. After Trump threatened Canada with new 50 percent tariffs, the Canadian government under Prime Minister Mark Carney responded with retaliatory tariffs of its own — some of which could be as high as 50 percent.

Krugman, in his Substack column, notes that Trump's obsession with name changes is unlikely to end with his "Lake America" order.

"There are already reports that Trump may not stop with trying to rename Lake Ontario Lake America, and rename other places too," Krugman writes. "So I have a few suggestions. I mean, the Pacific Ocean? That sounds weak and woke. Let's rename it the Lethality Ocean. Farther afield, the Black Sea? Sounds DEI to me. Make it the European Heritage Sea."

Krugman continues, "What about the Cape of Good Hope? Real Americans don't hope, they act with warrior ethos. Rename it the Cape of Epic Fury."

The "warrior ethos" that Krugman mentions is a reference to the Trump administration's decision to rename the U.S. Department of Defense the "War Department" and the goals that Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's have for that agency.

Far-right MAGA Republican Hegseth, a former Fox News weekend host, repeatedly argues that the U.S. military has been undermined by "wokeness," which he hopes to replace with a "warrior ethos."

Krugman's "Cape of Epic Fury" comment is referring to Operation: Epic Fury, the military strikes against Iran that Trump launched in late February. Trump promised that Operation: Epic Fury would bring the Iran war to a quick conclusion. But six months later, the U.S. and Iran are still at war — with no end in sight.

Krugman humorously says of his name change suggestions, "I'm sure there are many more."

The 80-year-old Trump, earlier this week, told reporters, "We have a gulf, and we have a lake. Now, all we need is an ocean. Maybe we'll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we'll change them both."