What started as a liberal joke is now a MAGA reality. Just check your map app. But it’s not just Google, Apple, and Microsoft falling in line. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy and Travis Larchuk, edited by Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd and Andrea Kristinsdottir, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram. Transcript at vox.com/today-explained-podcast Support Today, Explained by becoming a Vox Member today: http://www.vox.com/members President Donald Trump signing a proclamation renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America aboard Air Force One in February. Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What was the shocking moment in the Oval Office meeting?
What was your most shocking moment from the Oval Office meeting between Trump and Zelensky on Friday? I think mine might have been when some reporter asked the Ukrainian president why he wasn't wearing a suit. Do you own a suit?
Yes.
That's Brian Glenn from Real America's Voice, a right-wing, conspiracy-loving cable news channel that only recently got access to the White House when the new administration started handpicking who gets to hang out with the president. Real America's Voice is in. The Associated Press is out. You remember the AP, founded in 1846, 59 Pulitzers, king of style.
They're currently suing the Trump administration over being banned from the Oval Office. And why were they banned? because they won't call it the Gulf of America.
We are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
How the president renamed the Gulf coming up on Today Explained. Support for the show comes from yonder. There's a certain time and place for you to be checking your phone, and the classroom probably isn't one of them. Shouldn't school classrooms have, at the very least, the level of focus a stand-up comedian would demand of...
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In every company, there's a whole system of decision makers, challenges, and strategies shaping the future of business at every level. That's why we're running a special three-part Decoder Thursday series, looking at how some of the biggest companies in the world are adapting, innovating, and rethinking their playbooks.
We're asking enterprise leaders about some of the toughest questions they're facing today, revealing the tensions, risks, and breakthroughs happening behind closed doors. Check out Decoder, wherever you get your podcasts. This special series from The Verge is presented by Adobe Express.
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Chapter 2: How did the Gulf of America idea originate?
It was a joke. He raised about $100,000 to help those who had been impacted by the oil spill. And actually, the way that he raised money was from the Microsoft search engine called Bing. Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing. So he said Bing as many times as he could, and they would donate money for every time he said Bing. What a shame we didn't have one more Bing.
So that was kind of the joke, the ruse, the total satire. Two years later, a Mississippi lawmaker also does it as a little bit of a kind of a trolling of his Republican colleagues at the time, making fun of them for being afraid of Hispanics and not calling it the Gulf of Mexico. So he kind of did it as a joke to rename the Gulf off of Mississippi as the Gulf of America.
So let's just get rid of the Mexico thing and let's have the Gulf of America. And we'll be very unique in this country and we'll be on an island unto ourself. Everybody else can have the Gulf of Mexico, but we'll have the Gulf of America.
Again, joking. More recently, what we've been able to trace a little bit is conservative influencers started to refer to it as the Gulf of America. The one that I traced it to is a guy, Kevin Posobiec. Close listeners and followers may know his brother, Jack Posobiec, who's sort of a conspiracy theorist, well-known in the right-wing ecosphere.
Proud Boys USA is here. What's up? What is up? Proud of your boy. Proud Boys.
His brother Kevin is less well-known, but Kevin was in the Gulf last April with a buddy, and they had rented Wave Runners. And... When I talked to Kevin, he sort of recounted the whole scene and just felt like it was such an America thing to do, out there in the water. And he said, it came to me, it's like you see Hulk Hogan and think, man, that's America.
What you gonna do when Donald Trump and all the Trump-o-maniacs run wild on you, brother?
just having fun in the sun, a Florida man kind of moment.
And so he tweets, at the time, a message saying, Cruising the Gulf of America, its proper name come 2025.
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Chapter 3: What was Trump's proclamation about the Gulf of Mexico?
The Associated Press has a very prominent style book. And because a lot of people follow what they do, I think the White House got particularly upset at them.
I mean, you've reported on this story, Matt. You've thought about it more than most, who maybe just dismissed it as sort of an inconsequential joke. Does it matter what we call the Gulf of Mexico?
I think it can come across as a joke, but I do think it reflects like an underlying attitude that Trump has. And I think it's a reflection of how he's viewing the world and America's place in it. It's that America is dominant and is going to take over and is going to be at the forefront. And it reflects, I think, his dismissal of countries who think otherwise.
And so I think it has set an early marker for diplomacy. The fact that he's calling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America is like one reflection, I think, of his whole outlook on the world and how he's going to approach dealing with foreign leaders.
Matt Visor, WashingtonPost.com, where it's still called the Gulf of Mexico. Why? Big, powerful businesses, some of the most powerful on Earth, were so quick to accept Trump's newly named Gulf when we return on Today Explained.
It's been reported that one in four people experience sensory sensitivities, making everyday experiences like a trip to the dentist especially difficult. In fact, 26% of sensory-sensitive individuals avoid dental visits entirely.
In Sensory Overload, a new documentary produced as part of Sensodyne's Sensory Inclusion Initiative, we follow individuals navigating a world not built for them, where bright lights, loud sounds, and unexpected touches can turn routine moments into overwhelming challenges. Burnett Grant, for example, has spent their life masking discomfort in workplaces that don't accommodate neurodivergence.
"'I've only had two full-time jobs where I felt safe,' they share. This is why they're advocating for change. Through deeply personal stories like Burnett's, Sensory Overload highlights the urgent need for spaces, dental offices, and beyond that embrace sensory inclusion. Because true inclusion requires action with environments where everyone feels safe.
Watch Sensory Overload now, streaming on Hulu.
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