District of America? Walls Students React to Republican Lawmakers’ Proposed Name Change

As a part of his administration's broader “America First” agenda, President Trump has made some notable name changes. The Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America. After the Gulf of America came Mount Denali’s renaming to Mount McKinley, and now Republican lawmakers are seriously considering renaming the District of Columbia to the District of America.

This isn’t just speculation; Lauren Boebert, Rep. of Colorado and Republican Lawmaker, said, “I would caution my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to refrain from making jokes about the Gulf of America because next up may be the District of America,” according to FOX59 News. 

As students may be aware from long hours of Walls history classes, the District of Columbia gets its name from Christopher Columbus, an explorer often credited with “discovering” the so-called New World. Trump’s policies that affect the D.C. area hit close to home, literally, for Walls students, who have had strong reactions to the proposed name change. 

Armani Gordon (‘28) felt annoyed about the possibility of the name change. Regarding the Gulf of America. “It’s pointless and honestly kind of embarrassing,” Gordon said. On the threat of renaming D.C., they said “The District of Columbia is named for a reason, and changing it would erase part of our history. What’s next, renaming everything just to boost [Trump’s] ego?” The name change itself isn’t what Gordon dislikes about this possibility, but rather the fact that the change is relatively meaningless compared to other global issues.

Porter Jackson (‘28) agreed. On the Gulf of America change, they simply stated “It’s stupid and unnecessary.” Jackson then said, “It wouldn’t necessarily make much sense…we [already] know it’s in America.” Jackson doesn’t detect a clear motive for these changes, but suspects that Mr. Trump is “renaming it for the glory of America, but nobody actually cares.” Jackson, clearly unhappy with the prospect, thinks Mr. Trump should be focusing on other global issues.

This follows a consistent trend among students at Walls who have voiced considerable frustration with the administration. A student who asked to remain anonymous stated “Trump reminds me of a big, fat, orange toddler who is only trying to do things for his own personal gain and whines and points fingers at anyone but himself.” 

Overall, Walls students have a generally negative view towards the name changes to the Gulf of Mexico and the threat of the change to D.C. is decidedly negative. There is a lot of concern over whether this change is necessary over other issues. Students don’t think this change is the end of the world, but rather another miniscule policy that doesn’t do much for students at Walls, many of whom don’t appreciate Mr. Trump’s Americanization of different places across the country and the world.