Hillary Clinton laughed when President Trump announced during his inauguration on Monday that he would be renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
“America will reclaim its rightful place as the greatest, most powerful, most respected nation on Earth, inspiring the awe and admiration of the entire world,” Trump said after being sworn in.
“A short time from now, we are going to be changing the name of the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ to the ‘Gulf of America,’ and we will restore the name of a great president, William McKinley, to Mount McKinley, where it should be and where it belongs,” he continued, prompting his well-known foe, who was seated behind him along with other top political figures, to laugh.
One of Trump’s aides previewed earlier on Monday that the administration would be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico in addition to renaming Mount Denali, Mount McKinley.
The idea to change the Gulf of Mexico’s name already drew pushback when Trump mused about changing the name of the body of war earlier this month.
“I mean obviously ‘Gulf of Mexico,’ the name is recognized by the United Nations, an organism of the United Nations. But next, why don’t we call it ‘Mexican America’? It sounds nice, doesn’t it?” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said in a press conference earlier this month.
Trump and Clinton have been longstanding rivals since Trump defeated her during the 2016 election, and Clinton continued to be a vocal critic of the president.
