Trump sends holiday wishes to ‘Radical Left Lunatics’ while posting slew of ‘New America’ maps
This story raises questions about governance, accountability, and American values.
Trump wishing "Radical Left Lunatics" a happy Labor Day while spamming maps that rename New Mexico "New America" is the kind of thing that gets clipped into a five-second video and treated like a constitutional crisis. It isn't. It's a Monday morning post from a guy who has been doing this exact bit since the Gulf of Mexico stunt and now apparently wants to run the same play on Lake Ontario and a whole state.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
President Donald Trump wished his political rivals a happy Labor Day on Monday morning after posting a slew of images depicting New Mexico as “New America.” The provocative messages come after Trump pushed for the Gulf of Mexico to be renamed the Gulf of America and, more recently, signed an executive order to rebrand Lake Ontario as Lake […]
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
Trump wishing "Radical Left Lunatics" a happy Labor Day while spamming maps that rename New Mexico "New America" is the kind of thing that gets clipped into a five-second video and treated like a constitutional crisis. It isn't. It's a Monday morning post from a guy who has been doing this exact bit since the Gulf of Mexico stunt and now apparently wants to run the same play on Lake Ontario and a whole state. Read it for what it is: trolling, dressed up in presidential letterhead.
That doesn't mean it's nothing. There's a difference between a president having a sense of humor and a president using the official account to rename American geography as a running gag. The Gulf of America thing at least had a policy vehicle behind it. Slapping "New America" onto New Mexico with no explanation is just content, and content from the Oval Office carries weight whether or not it's meant seriously. People are allowed to find it funny and also think it's a little undignified. Both things are true at once, and pretending otherwise is how you end up either defending everything he posts or losing your mind over a meme.
What's actually revealing is the holiday message itself. Calling your political opposition "Radical Left Lunatics" on a day meant to honor American workers is petty, but it's also honest about where things stand. Nobody on either side is pretending this is a unity moment in this country right now. Trump just says the quiet part in all caps instead of couching it in press-release language, which is either refreshing or exhausting depending on your mood that morning.
None of this rises to the level the outrage cycle wants it to. It's a president being online the way he's always been online, testing what sticks and what gets clipped for cable. The bigger story, as usual, is that everyone downstream of the post treats a joke about a map as if it were policy, and treats an insult as if it were a threat. Save the alarm for something that actually deserves it.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.