President Donald Trump arrives to speak in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 24, 2026. (Jim Watson – AFP / Getty Images)
By Samuel Short August 27, 2026 at 8:58am
After a decade, President Donald Trump’s tactics to troll and infuriate his detractors still have efficacy.
His latest efforts come in supposedly renaming Lake Ontario, now deciding that it’s called “Lake America” instead.
The Rapid Response 47 account on social media platform X posted footage of the president from the Oval Office doing just that.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 27, 2026
He quite literally takes a marker and scratches out Lake Ontario on a map, bestowing its new name upon it afterwards.
“So this is Lake Ontario, in Canada and in the United States,” Trump said, adding he was going to “make a little change.”
Do you support renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America?
Renaming the lake, according to Trump, is easy. “All it takes is a good pen and some intelligence.”
He then proceeded to make the change.
“So now we have a lake, and now we have a gulf,” he noted, referencing the Gulf of America, previously the Gulf of Mexico, until his Jan. 20, 2025, executive order.
The president — for anyone that needed this explained — did not do this in any official capacity.
Rather, it’s him using his usual playbook — taking to social media to incense his millions of naysayers.
The jab at our neighbors to the north comes just as ABC News reported new tariffs on Canada as of Sunday.
The outlet reported the president feels Canada had taken “advantage” of the United States for too long, calling them “one of the worst countries in the world to deal with” to conservative commentator Glenn Beck during a radio interview.
On Monday, the White House issued a news release stating Canada has a history of their own tariff policies that hurt American workers and businesses, declaring, “Canada has been ripping off the United States for decades — and President Donald J. Trump is done letting them get away with it.”
Sure, Trump might not be a conventional statesman in dealing with foreign countries, but his toughness is sorely needed.
Feeble, indecisive leadership on the international scene only sends the message that the United States is a waning power with weak leadership.
In contrast, Trump takes every opportunity — even in the most ridiculous and laughable circumstances — to simply act.
Although the footage is not directly policy-related, these moments accumulate. For other world leaders, they create an image of a president who simply does things.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
Sam Short is an Assistant Professor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in his articles are his own and do not reflect the views or opinions of Motlow State Community College.
