Trump Punishes Mainstream Outlet For Refusing To Acknowledge Gulf Of America

President Donald Trump is holding media outlets accountable for refusing to abide by his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. He even shut one of the world’s biggest news sources out of a Tuesday evening news conference.

News outlets and private companies alike have rushed to insert the body of water’s new name into their lexicon. During an earnings call earlier this month, Chevron cited the Gulf of America while speaking about its offshore drilling activities. The Google and Apple map apps both display the Gulf of America.

In order to receive access to White House press briefings, the Trump administration has ordered outlets to begin using the phrase in their coverage. That didn’t sit well with the Associated Press; now, they no longer have a seat in the White House.

“Today we were informed by the White House that if AP did not align its editorial standards with President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, AP would be barred from accessing an event in the Oval Office. This afternoon, AP’s reporter was blocked from attending an executive order signing,” said Julie Pace, the executive editor of AP, according to the Western Journal.

“It is alarming that the Trump administration would punish AP for its independent journalism,” Pace said. “Limiting our access to the Oval Office based on the content of AP’s speech not only severely impedes the public’s access to independent news, it plainly violates the First Amendment.”

“Today our @AP White House reporter was denied access to the Oval Office because the Associated Press recognizes the international body of water on our southern coastline as the Gulf of Mexico, while acknowledging President Donald Trump’s order to rename it the Gulf of America,” AP correspondent Tara Copp posted on X.

The AP, one of the world’s most widely recognized sources of journalism, defended its decision to abide by the body of water’s old name.

“As a global news agency that disseminates news around the world, the AP must ensure that place names and geography are easily recognizable to all audiences,” its style guide explained, saying the AP “will refer to [the Gulf of Mexico] by its original name while acknowledging the new name Trump has chosen.” The AP’s justification is that the gulf has carried the Gulf of Mexico name for “more than 400 years” and that other countries and international bodies do not have to recognize the name change.

“Punishing journalists for not adopting state-mandated terminology is an alarming attack on press freedom,” the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression added. “That’s viewpoint discrimination, and it’s unconstitutional. President Trump has the authority to change how the U.S. government refers to the Gulf. But he cannot punish a news organization for using another term.”

For resisting the change, AP reporters missed the opportunity to hear President Trump and Elon Musk explain some of the federal government’s most antiquated systems while together in the Oval Office. Musk took several minutes to reveal how the government’s retirement system cannot handle more than 10,000 applications per month and requires the use of paper records stored in a byzantine former limestone mine.

In his January executive order establishing the Gulf of America, President Trump wrote that the gulf “is a vital region for the multi-billion-dollar U.S. maritime industry, providing some of the largest and most impressive ports in the world. 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.”