Washington Post credits Kevin Posobiec with Gulf of America name change

Kevin Posobiec recounted a sunny April afternoon spent riding WaveRunners with a friend near Tampa Bay, Florida. "I was like, ‘Man, this is like such an America thing to do.’ It just came to me. I said, it’s like you see Hulk Hogan and think, ‘Man, that’s America.’ Just having fun in the sun, a Florida man kind of moment. I was like, ‘Man, I’m in the gulf. What if it was the Gulf of America?’"

He posted a photo that evening and wrote, "Cruising the Gulf of America. It’s proper name come 2025." The message was amplified at the time by Jack Posobiec, who the Post claimed was "known for peddling conspiracy theories."

While the idea didn’t gain traction at that time, months later, in December 2022, Jack Posobiec posted, "while we’re at it, Gulf of Mexico? I think you mean Gulf of America."

The Post reported, "It is unclear whether Trump was made aware of those messages. But he does follow Jack Posobiec, and Trump aide Natalie Harp often prints out messages for him to read."

Two weeks later, Trump held a press conference at Mar-a-Lago. "We’re going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, which has a beautiful ring. That covers a lot of territory. The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name and it’s appropriate," he said. He had first verbalized the thought during a meeting with advisors at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump signed an executive order on day-one ordering that the name be changed, giving the interior secretary 30 days to make the change formal. He later signed a proclamation aboard Air Force One while flying over the gulf proclaiming that day "Gulf of America Day."

Kevin Posobiec said, "I can’t stop laughing at it that he actually signed an executive order. I couldn’t believe it. They’re making all kinds of maps and T-shirts. It went bonkers online. They actually got Google and Apple to do it."

One person seeing a boom in business after the name change is Adam Peterson, who named his Louisiana-based fishing charter company Gulf of America Outfitters a few years earlier. He said his phone has been blowing up and business is booming. He took in $33,000 for all of February 2024. This February, he booked $191,000 in the first three weeks alone.

"It’s been a wild two months, for sure. The phone doesn’t stop ringing, the texts don’t stop coming. People in general are more upset about the person doing it than the name change. The Gulf Coast and people down here have been taken by it," he said.