'Disturbing': Trump’s 'seemingly trivial' move that signals growing repression

President Donald Trump’s executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America might not seem like a top issue compared to, say, trying to end birthright citizenship or carrying out mass firings of the federal workforce, but events surrounding it have serious implications, authors Jeffrey Abramson and Jack E. Davis argue in a piece published at the Guardian Wednesday.

When the Associated Press continued to use the term "Gulf of Mexico," the Trump administration revoked their press access to White House events. The news organization sued last week, but on Monday, a federal judge refused to order the White House to restore access. On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that they would choose who had access to events.

“Granting access to the White House on the suppressive conditions set by the Trump administration is a blow to the first amendment and the free press. If the retaliation against the AP is allowed to stand, more restrictions on the press are certain to follow, creating Kremlin-like conditions that will affect all Americans who might question, or be suspected of questioning, the Trump party line,” Abramson and Davis write.

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“This is why a seemingly trivial issue – what to call the Gulf – is freighted with importance. Trump’s renaming of the Gulf unmistakably delivers his 'America first' message. He has every right to his message. But he doesn’t have the right to turn the press into his messenger,” they continue.

“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not be retaliated against by the government. The Constitution does not allow the government to control speech,” the AP says in its complaint.

Abramson and Davis note that there is a disturbing historical precedent for renaming places. For example, when he seized power in 1933, Adolf Hitler renamed streets and public places. Joseph Stalin renamed "Tsaritsyn" to "Stalingrad."

This is not Trump’s only bold foreign policy move. He has brought up reclaiming the Panama Canal, buying Greenland, turning Canada into the 51st state, and taking over Gaza. “Even if these are mere paper ambitions, the disdain Trump shows for international law is already doing irreparable harm,” they write.

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“The ripple effect of Trump commandeering global waters reaches beyond the sea to all Americans," they continue. "His actions must be considered alongside his other executive orders on his first day back in office, declaring the arrival of immigrants at the southern border an “invasion” and suspending grants of asylum, no matter how dire the situation of refugees. When we let Trump scapegoat vulnerable immigrants for this country’s – and the world’s – problems, we are in fascist territory. That is why Trump’s renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America is no laughing matter. It expresses a level of disrespect for Mexico that could well be a precursor for how strongmen treat peoples whom they first strip of dignity. Substitute Jew, Catholic, Turk, Armenian, Arab, gay or transgender for Trump’s talk of an invasion of aliens across the Gulf, and you get the point."