The Conversation (0)
Liam O'Dell
43m
It was back in August that US president Donald Trump, not content with renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’ and changing Lake Ontario to ‘Lake America’, suggested he may look to change the name of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean – and sure enough, the 80-year-old revealed this week that he floated a rebrand of the Atlantic Ocean to the ‘American Ocean’ by the boss of Google, Sundar Pichai.
Fortunately, and in a move which is different to their controversial decision on 'Lake America', the tech company wasn’t keen on the change.
On Wednesday, the president told a crowd in South Carolina: “I only like two oceans: the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. I’m not going to put ‘Trump’ or ‘America’ on any other ocean but these two.
“So, we seriously looked at the Atlantic Ocean and I called Google Maps, who were really great with the lake [America] … and I spoke to a brilliant guy – Sundar, who heads all of Google, he’s a brilliant guy.
“They’re still rattled from the Gulf [of America], and I said, ‘Sundar, I’m thinking of the Atlantic Ocean, can you handle it?’
“’No, no, no, this time I’m not doing it.’ He said, ‘Oceans are different, sir … they cover, really, a lot of countries, please don’t as us to do that’, so I’ll probably pass.
“I think let’s keep it the Atlantic Ocean, right? Pacific Ocean… We’re going to go with the American Ocean.
“How do you think Europe would feel? Do you think they’d like that?”
Speaking at a rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump announced that he would be “changing the name of the Atlantic Ocean to the American Ocean” on Monday.
“I actually called up Sundar from Google – you know, Google Maps is a big deal, you get it on Google, it’s done. I called up Sundar, so I got the lake, I got the gulf.
“I said, ‘Sundar, I was only kidding’. I have a new one, I actually sent him a picture of the Atlantic Ocean called the American Ocean, and he actually called me and said, ‘Sir, this has to stop.’”
Social media users since ridiculed Trump’s latest obsession, with one X/Twitter account writing: “They talk to him like he’s 5”:
Another tweeted: “He’s so f***ing stupid”:
“Stupidest president we have ever had btw,” wrote a third:
Sohrab Ahmari, the US editor of Unherd, commented: “’Diesel is $7.50 sir…’ Trump:”:
Others pointed out the inaccuracy around bringing up Europe when talking about the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean:
And PatriotTakes said the president is “geographically illiterate”:
indy100 has approached Google for comment.
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