Amid Trump’s ‘Lake America’ stink, the Chinese emperor whose renaming campaign backfired
The article compares Donald Trump's recent executive orders renaming geographic landmarks to the historical rebranding efforts of the Chinese emperor Wang Mang. It suggests that such attempts to assert political dominance through renaming often face public resistance or irrelevance.
Why it matters
It provides historical context to modern political actions, illustrating how symbolic gestures of power are perceived by the public and international observers.
I suspect many Americans are embarrassed by their president’s recent actions. On August 27, Donald Trump signed an executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” following the collapse of trade talks between the United States and Canada.
The change applies only in the US, while Canada and the rest of the world continue to call it Lake Ontario. Doug Ford, premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, has put up a sign declaring “Lake Ontario Now and Always”. The lake, meanwhile, remains impressively indifferent.
This is not the first time Trump has renamed something. In January 2025, he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”. The rest of the world, and many in the US, have ignored the change.
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