For much of the past decade, the American left has pursued an unrelenting campaign to rename, rebrand, and rewrite nearly everything. Statues have been toppled, military bases rechristened, and pronouns imposed like commandments from on high.
When outrage flared this week over President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” liberals were quick to claim the president had violated constitutional norms by altering names for political convenience—despite the administration’s ongoing trade disputes with Canada.
Comedian Bill Maher delivered a sharp critique of the reaction, noting: “The liberals are very pissed at this. They say you can’t just go around changing things to fit your political agenda. Just ask any Latinx birthing person.”
Maher’s jab highlighted the hypocrisy in liberal demands for linguistic consistency while simultaneously rejecting terms like “Latinx” and shifting official health documentation from “mother” to “birthing person.” The same group that insisted on such changes now objects to presidential renaming as an act of authoritarianism.
The Democratic response intensified the contrast. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed a napkin labeled “Lake Wisconsin,” declaring it his executive action, while Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced plans to rename Chicago’s Trump Tower “Natalie Tower.”
President Trump signed the Lake America order Thursday following collapsed trade talks with Canada, triggering retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on both sides. The move follows Trump’s previous rebranding of the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America” in his first year back in office.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has insisted his country will continue calling it Lake Ontario—a stance that underscores the symbolic weight of the renaming amid real economic consequences.
