Associated Press Blocked from Oval Office for Dead-Naming ‘Gulf of America’
While indigenous peoples had their own names for the Gulf, such as the Maya term Chactemal, these were replaced mainly during European colonization.
I would wager that the White House’s Oval Office has seen more activity in the past three weeks of President Donald Trump’s presidency than in Biden’s first term.
While many moments have been poignant and serious, others have been entertaining and clearly indicative of a “vibe shift” throughout the country.
For example, Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office, renaming the US portion of the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” The order directed the Secretary of the Interior to officially rename the body of water within 30 days and update all federal maps, documents, and websites accordingly.
According to the original executive order signed in late January, Trump said that the Gulf plays a “pivotal role” in the security and economic prosperity of the United States, and should therefore be named after the U.S.
“The Gulf will continue to play a pivotal role in shaping America’s future and the global economy, and in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation’s economy and its people, I am directing that it officially be renamed the Gulf of America,” his order said.
Google and several other companies have observed the name change. Well, Google did the update for American servers, at least.
Google only changed the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America in American servers.
The rest of the world it’s in parentheses. pic.twitter.com/Kg11QDyVHQ
— Adam Crigler (@AdamCrigler) February 11, 2025
But the Associated Press (AP) decided to continue to dead-name the region.
Don’t deadname the Gulf of America @AP https://t.co/e4ie7wxqVu
— James David Dickson (@downi75) February 11, 2025
The move by the USAID-funded organization is fascinating in light of all the naming manipulations it has treated us to over the many years of leftist-funded piffle that has been passed off as “journalism.”
Renaming things is what leftists do.
So the people who made us rename everything from military bases to football teams to pancake syrup are very upset about this Gulf of America thing aren’t they
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) February 13, 2025
And I will add we taxpayers are funding much of the AP’s propaganda.
The Associated Press has taken over $52 Million of government money pic.twitter.com/2RY4Q1Fb4l
— Chadwick Moore (@Chadwick_Moore) February 12, 2025
Now, the AP reporters thought they were back in 2016 when the #Resistance movement was robust and virtue-signaling the progressive take on events would go unchallenged.
The White House blocked an Associated Press reporter from attending President Donald Trump’s executive order signing Tuesday afternoon, the news organization said, after it continued to refer to the “Gulf of Mexico” instead of adjusting to reflect the administration’s stance that the body of water should now be called the “Gulf of America.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the White House warned the AP — known for its stylebook that many newsrooms follow — that if it did not change its guidance on the body of water, its on-call reporter would be blocked from attending the event, the wire service said.
And after the news organization did not comply, the White House did just that.
The organization received little sympathy from the Americans whose tax monies it had previously enjoyed.
Today an actual journalist gained access to the Oval Office instead of just the Associated Press.
— RetiredPublius (@ProffesorPubli1) February 12, 2025
Interestingly, a lot of common sense terms will be making their way back into our lexicon.
Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy posted to X (formerly Twitter): “In line with my commitment to restoring sanity to @USDOT, the FAA will resume using the term ‘Notice to Airmen’ instead of ‘Notice to Air Missions.’ Also, pilot charts will now reference the Gulf of America and Mt. McKinley. Thanks to President Trump, we are taking back our language, our history, and our country.”
And how did the “Gulf of Mexico” get named, anyway?
Spanish explorers in the 16th century initially referred to the Gulf by various names, such as Mar del Norte (Sea of the North) and Seno Mexicano (Mexican Sound). By the mid-17th century, the “Gulf of Mexico” became standardized on European maps, reflecting Spain’s colonial dominance. While indigenous peoples had their own names for the Gulf, such as the Maya term Chactemal, these were replaced mainly during European colonization.
Personally, I am surprised that the AP didn’t demand it be called Chactemal..but I digress.
Even Encyclopedia Britannica acknowledged the new name but kept the web page’s title as the Gulf of Mexico.
English geographer Richard Hakluyt referred to the “Gulfe of Mexico” in The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589). That same year, Italian cartographer Baptista Boazio produced a map of Sir Francis Drake’s 1585–86 naval campaign against Spanish colonial holdings in the Americas. Boazio depicted Drake’s fleet skirting the edge of the “Baye of Mexico.” Other names, including the “Gulf of New Spain” and the “Florida Sea,” appeared on maps and in publications over subsequent centuries. In 2025 the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) adopted the name “Gulf of America” for use by U.S. federal agencies in accordance with Pres. Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14172.
It looks like Encyclopedia Britannica won’t officially recognize the name.
Encyclopædia Britannica will continue to use ‘Gulf of Mexico’ for a few reasons:
-We serve an international audience, a majority of which is outside the U.S.
-The Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water, and the U.S.’s authority to rename it is ambiguous.
— Encyclopaedia Britannica (@Britannica) February 12, 2025
Finally, being a reporter asked to cover the President and take an Oval Office meeting is a privilege. I expect journalists and their organizations invited to do so to ask serious questions about policy issues and not make every session an episode in self-promoting dramas.
The era of press briefing virtue-signalling is over.
Karoline Leavitt shuts CNN hack Kaitlan Collins down after whining about an AP reporter losing access over ‘Gulf of America’:
“Let me just set the record straight. It is a privilege to cover this white House. It’s a privilege to be the white House press secretary. And… pic.twitter.com/a7M9CjC1Lo
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 12, 2025
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Comments
The District Courts, particularly the DC District Court, seem very anxious to take over Executive Branch responsibilities. There are any number of Judges in that District who will be happy to take over the role of guardian of press passes.
The Oval Office is not a press briefing room. It is the personal space of the President of the United States. Only the best is good enough to go in there.
This was an ignoramus move on Trump’s part. It undoes all the good of reversing the stupid woke name changes forced by Democrats. Gulf of Mexico is a centuries old, proper appellation. Trump should reconsider this over a cheeseburger with a side of American fries.
So ignoramus that the world is now calling it Gulf of America
Cope dear sweetie….cope!
Go back to Stalingrad.
You mean Volgograd? Time to get out of the sixties. It is 2025.
Apparently place names are difficult for sweetie pie
I wonder what sweetie pie thinks of Ft. Braggs? You know Alzheimer can do nasty stuff to your mind so you are stuck in the past.
Take your advice, communist
The world is NOT calling it the Gulf of America.
I understand your point – as I am annoyed by this post using the silly term “deadnaming” (which should NEVER be used) – but you are mistaken. This is not a renaming in order to erase some aspect of history. This is a renaming to mark the start of a new era. And it is a (potentially) huge new era, therefore this large, important body of water serves the purpose of signifying the change.
This is forward looking, not backward apologizing. It bears no relation to the self-hating leftist obsession with erasing history or condemning historical figures or the historical population, as a whole.
The thrust of the modern American leftist renaming was only to denigrate and/or erase white/Western civilization from the history books, for reasons of self-hating nihilism.
I think the word “deadnaming” is used to humorous effect.
Yes … but people should note how often slang that some use facetiously and for effect ends up being quickly accepted as normal. It doesn’t take much for a word r phrase used a few times in public to crowd out the word or phrase that people had normally used up tot hat point. It happens all the time.
Look at how almost no one says “Global Warming” any more. Initially, conservatives would say “Climate change” facetiously (since it was so retarded and funny in how the left had flailed in their search for an alternative label) but it has since become the standard expression used by even some of the staunchest conservatives.
You got cause and effect reversed. It was the left that created the term Climate Change, to move the goalposts when it became obvious even to middle schoolers that the globe was not getting any warmer..
I know that. That’s what I wrote. I said that conservatives used it humorously (to mock the left) but before long it was used seriously, as the actual label, without the mocking and has since become standard use with almost no one saying “Global Warming” anymore. Of course, the left abandoned “Global Warming” because every time they had a global warming summit it snowed … even in places where it hadn’t snowed in a century – like Delhi.
“used it humorously” … after the left had tried to change the term to that, of course.
This happens with slang all the time. SOmeone says something stupid, in new slang, and others use it, in mocking, but then they forget the original phrase that it was substituting for and it becomes the actual phrase used as standard.
That’s why no one should use “dead naming”, even as a joke or to mock the left. It is a phrase that should die from disuse.
No, no, no. Karoline should use the term “deadnaming” as many times in a sentence as she can jam it in. It drives the freaks wild. It’s their rules and now they get to feel the pointy end.
Personally I think it should be renamed “Isaac’s Gulf” for Isaac Cline who was the chief meteorologist in Galveston on the morning of September 8th 1900 he broke protocol “by making a unilateral decision to issue a hurricane warning without first securing authorization from the Bureau’s central office in Washington, D.C.” By defying bureaucracy many lives were likely saved.
Which certainly makes him a man after Trump’s own heart who deserves his place in history to be acknowledged.
What is the “U.S. Agency for Global Media”? Why do they have such a huge budget?
Why would the U.S. State Dept be providing millions to AP?
It was payment to help Dems with the election. They bribed many media outlets. Every one of them should be held accountable.
You will now be referred to as The Dis Associated Press
Sorry, already taken.
Courtesy of Richard Stallman, autist, MacArthur Prize recipient, and ex-MIT professor, cancelled and fired during the woke ascendancy for “disrespecting women,” back when people would admit knowing what a woman was.
It exists on every Macintosh in the world, but only the select few know how to access it.
It’s not just a small world, but one with fiendishly macabre convolutions.
LOL, make them live by their own set of (preposterous) rules. Beautiful!
It opens up space for a blogger.
the Gulf of America (not the Gulf of USA) rests on the tectonic plate of North America, (coincidentally I guess)
It’s still a stupid name change, put it back.
‘Don’t dead name the gulf.’ Heh. That’s on point branding, and comports w/ Alinsky’s stylebook: use your enemy’s own words against them.
This will not be a popular comment. Trump is perfectly free to restrict access to press conferences without cause. However by demanding AP call (in their own materials, as I understand) the gulf by its more recent name it does become a matter of compelled speech which does bring up First Amendment concerns. He would even be free to ignore members of the press if they asked a question about “The Gulf of Mexico.
I am also of the opinion (which legal minds are welcome to correct) that although the White House/Oval Office is part of the president’s private residence it becomes a quasi government office when it is used to hold official press conferences with the media and the public. Which also brings up First Amendment concerns.
Again Trump is free to bar without cause anyone from his residence or his office including the press. But if he gives cause it should not be because the press will not write what he demands they write.
Aside from the fact that this is not a compelled speech case, even if it were what would be the remedy – that the courts would be able to dictate to the federal government who is allowed to have press passes and be in the press room or oval office and how often the President or press secretary is required to call on them? There could be no rational remedy by any court. But, luckily, it is not a 1st amendment issue and there will not be any reason for the leftist traitors of our retarded judiciary to be bothered with it.
I disagree. Trump made it a probable compelled speech issue. Notice I wrote that he is free to ban anyone without cause both from his private residence and his public office. So banning the AP or some other media propaganda outfit is not the problem. The problem is telling such arms of “Our Benevolent Betters” what they must write or say in their own references.
I don’t believe it would mean a court could make Trump issue press passes to anyone who demanded such. It would only mean that Trump could not tell AP to censor themselves. They could still be banned if Trump simply said “You are banned.” End of sentence. Which like the word “No” is a complete sentence needing no other explanation or excuse.
So, the AP has the right to call Washington D.C. “Tehran” as its official name for the city and the federal government must allow that and must be compelled to give the AP a voice in the press room to ask questions about “Tehran”.
I don’t think so.
Yes. AP does have the right to call D.C. Tehran. And yes the federal government must not ban AP from the press room for doing so. BUT THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT HAVE TO GIVE ANY REASON FOR WHICH MEMBERS OF THE PRESS THEY ALLOW OR BAN FROM PRESS CONFERENCES. Also the government is perfectly free to ignore or take whichever questions they choose to. They can even tell them to use certain names or terms if they want to be acknowledged. BUT THEY CAN’T MAKE THEM DO SO IN THEIR OWN MATERIALS. Which from what has been reported was the issue.
The AP has every right to devalue themselves as a provider of news. Just because you have credentials does not mean that you have credibilty (cf Ivy league Presidents)
This suggestion is as heinous as the law that forbids a widow looking to rent out a room to a boarder to advertise she desires a female border — but “allows” her to reject male applicants for being male as long as she never discloses that fact to him.
(And yes, I have personal experience with this law, assisting a family member to rent out such a room.)
Sorry, the above was a response to JRael, I forgot the thread levels were tapped out.
If there is no remedy then the court cannot entertain the suit.
The remedy is to explain the press passes are now kept in that mine Elon Musk talked about recently when answering questions about DOGE. It will take some time to retrieve it. That is if a court demanded anyone who wanted a press pass must have one.
And I bet that you believe it when men with large dicks demand to be called women.
WOW, Are you in for a big surprise!
Again Trump is free to bar without cause ? It is obvious that the cause is NOT “because the press will not write what he demands they write.”
You just been trolled by the President. You really need to watch a South Park Alexis to learn about Harry Bolzs
Harry Bolz isn’t that what cats cough up?
It is a fact that no public space is available for all the media personnel who would like to attend press briefings/conferences and other staged events. Therefore, event holders must be allowed to use their discretion concerning who receives access and who does not. Anyone excluded can always claim “bias” of some sort, so such claims must be discounted, simply because there’s no better way to conduct business. Except for possibly a lottery to do determine who gets access to any particular event. But there would be complaints about that too, as legacy media would get swamped in such a process, being locked out of most events simply because of the large number of competitors who would be involved in the lottery.
I never suggested that Trump was not free to use his personal discretion over who receives a press pass.
Since Joe Sixpack has precisely the same First Amendment rights as Jeff Bezos, the lottery would be pretty oversubscribed. It might be years before an actual newspaper gets chosen… once.
Which I think would be a mass improvement.
There’s no compelled speech issue because Trump isn’t telling someone what they must say, he’s telling them what they cannot say (if they want to be invited to future events). Additionally, Trump isn’t interfering with the press’ right to print whatever they feel like, he’s just not inviting them to private events if they’re antagonistic–the AP can get what was said in the briefing room from CNN if they want to act a fool.
Further, just because he invites some news outlets, people, whatever to an event at the White House doesn’t make it something news outlets or the public can demand access to. You and I can’t just demand to go into the Oval Office to write for our blog. Just because something is a government office doesn’t mean we automatically are granted access to it no matter what.
From what I read they are being banned because they are not willing to change references in their own materials. That is the issue. You should read what I have already written. To sum up. The free speech issue (which compelled speech is part of) arises ONLY IF TRUMP RESTRICTS ACCESS BECAUSE OF HOW AP REFERS TO THE GULF IN THEIR OWN MATERIALS/REPORTING. He could even tell them to only call it Gulf of America during the press briefings. He could even refuse to engage with them during a press briefing. HE HAS ABSOLUTE DISCRETION OVER WHO ENTERS HIS RESIDENCE OR OFFICE. He does not have the authority to tell any member of the press what they must write or say when outside his office or residence. HE GETS TO MAKE RULES FOR HIS HOUSE/OFFICE NOT THEIRS. I have over and over again written Trump does not have to allow whomever demands on a press pass. But if a reason for the ban is given it is subject to scrutiny.
But I am curious. Would anyone here be alright with former President Biden banning a media outlet because they continued to call Dr. Levine he when referring to that person in their own websites or blogs or news articles?
It is my belief that when someone takes large amounts of money, the guy playing the instrument gets to call the tune.
Asinine Press could have declined the money, but they didn’t.
No media outlet has a “right” to be invited into the select pressroom to ask questions. They can exercise their first amendment right with a letter or phone call, like bloggers had to up until last month.
In fact, you could say that the media’s First Amendment “right” to attend these invitational press conferences is not an individual right but a collective right — same as those bastards insisted the Second Amendment was for the past 100 years — and see how it tastes to them.
When did I ever write the press had a right to be invited to any presidential media event. I did not. and they do not have any such imagined right. They do have a First Amendment right to call it the “Gulf of Mexico” in their own materials on their own time on their own dime.
And they still can. They’ll have all the opportunity they want to do it… from the comfort of their own offices. See how well it all works out?
If the AP was just a simple single press outlet, no one would likely care. Unfortunately, their guidelines are taught in journalism schools and used by most of the press as guidelines as well, so you can’t just ignore them deadnaming the gulf. Even so, no one cares about their guidelines for (say) semicolon usage. If they refused to stop calling the democratic Party the democrat party, based on previous butt-hurt uproar I’ve seen online on that very issue there’d be talk in favor of “forced expression” from The Left..
Well played.
C-blocking these clowns is the right move in 2025. They’ve earned it.
Naming is a privilege, and marker, of dominance. Self-hating nihilists, like the modern Western Left, use renaming whenever they have dominance (by hook or by crook) in order to denigrate Western society and white people and to create some laughably fake history about the dominance of the losers of history. President Trump is using the dominance of rational Americans to mark a change in our trajectory – being proud of our society and our strength and success – that is monumental (especially as it has saved us from the abyss we were so very, very close to falling into.
18 Trump days is equivalent to 26.5 Brandon years.
That’s because he’s moving at close to the speed of light.
Just for fun, we should take a look at how much of the Encyclopedia Brittanica has changed since 2008. It is probably as credible as National Geographic and Scientific American in that regard.
There is a field I have considerable expertise in, where I made Encyclopedia Brittanica aware of an error, i well documented it. It involved someone similar to Fauci, taking credit for someone else’s work. They never corrected it. They are about as reliable as Wikipedia.
I remember taking Spanish language classes as a kid and being lectured that I am not an American but rather a Norte Americano because Central Americans and South Americans are all Americans too.
So why all this butt-hurt over what is clearly more inclusive naming? After all, inclusivity is good, right?
But Mexicans are Norte Americanos too. Has anyone told them?
They are also Caucasian, but don’t tell them that. They shit a taco.
than in Biden’s first term.
Did you mean Obama’s 3rd term?
I don’t care so much about the name of the gulf. But I really want Pluto to be called a planet. Maybe President Trump could issue an executive order to make that so.
I am right there with you.
Please don’t draw his attention to it. He’ll buy it.
You can call it whatever you like, but it will remain not a planet. It was obvious to me from the day we learned how small Pluto really is that calling it a planet had been a mistake, just as it had been to call Ceres a planet, and that it should be reversed just as that mistake had been.
Just because one mistake lasted longer than the other is no reason to continue it once we know it was wrong. So when they finally came up with the current definition of planets and dwarf planets I was not surprised.
Just remember that whatever you call Pluto, you have to call Charon the same thing.
People getting too stressed out about this. Gulf of California, or Sea of Cortez, its all the same doesn’t matter.
I’m coming around to thinking that Trump renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America was genius. He somehow casually manages to press hot buttons as if they were acupuncture points.
I had always thought that their was an office in the UN that took care of naming geographical features and it was voted on by the entire Assembly so everyone was on the same page for aircraft, ships etc. But there isn’t. Everyone just calls stuff whatever because everyone just does. Trump has the right to name the Gulf anything he want’s. Gulf of The America’s would be a better name but whatever.
For centuries, Deutschland has been known as Allemagne and Niemcy by its neighbor(s) and Germany by us and the UK, Think the UN cares?
Hey, I wonder what the Britannica calls it? Oh yeah, it’s the BRITannica.
Obviously I’m late to the party. If I step on anyone’s toes with my comments I apologize in advance. I could care less that ap was denied access to the briefing. It IS the Gulf of America. I have a t-shirt that says it is!