Donald Trump promotes territorial revisionism through geographic renaming

President Donald Trump has utilized social media and executive orders to promote a policy of territorial revisionism, often using maps that depict the American flag covering large portions of North America, Central America, the Caribbean, Greenland, and Iceland.

Through the U.S. Board on Geographic Names and various executive orders, the administration has sought to rename shared geographic features to reflect American interests. Notable changes include designating the Gulf of Mexico as the ‘Gulf of America’ and Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’ in official federal references.

Beyond nomenclature, the administration has signaled expansionist ambitions through rhetoric regarding Greenland, Canada, and the Panama Canal. These actions are viewed by analysts as a reinterpretation of the Monroe Doctrine, aimed at asserting U.S. hegemony over the Western Hemisphere and challenging the post-war global order regarding the inviolability of international borders.