U.S. President-elect Donald Trump. (Photo by Allison Robbert-Pool/Getty Images)
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It’s still early in 2025, and the oddball stories won’t stop. The latest to provoke the online world was President-elect Donald Trump suggesting changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
And the internet’s reaction? That’s been, predominately, one of rage, with a deluge of people posting negatively on social media about the suggested change.
There’s something deeper going on though. This latest controversy and its online reaction shines a light on how people use social media as a method of controlling their emotions, but also how politicians use this to garner attention in our modern era.
What Is Happening With The Renaming Of The ‘Gulf Of Mexico—And How Is The Internet Reacting?
In a speech at Mar-a-Lago, the President-elect said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America.” This ocean basin, which is part of the Atlantic, borders both countries.
This proposed change wasn’t the only topic in Trump’s speech, there were an array of other comments too—including mentioning windmills impacting whales and shower heads that don’t deliver enough water—but it was the Gulf of America statement that sparked the internet’s attention.
So far, there have been a deluge of social media posts, the majority of which seem to be negative about this suggestion. Some, for example, compare the vow to rename the Gulf of Mexico to Trump’s campaign promises:
Others used graphics to create a tongue-in-cheek meme about how areas around the United States should be named:
While different posts showed anger at the perceived absurdity of Trump’s speech:
While there were several supportive posts of this plan to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, these are vastly outnumbered by memes and comments reacting negatively to Trump’s speech.
What Does The Internet’s Fury About The Plan To Rename The ‘Gulf Of Mexico’ To The ‘Gulf Of America? Mean?’
Ignoring the geopolitical ramifications of Trump’s suggestion, there are two interesting parts about the online reaction. The first is that social media can operate as a tool for people to vent and feel control, and the second is this is exactly what Trump’s team and similar politicians want to happen.
The Foundation for Economic Education published a piece about how politics can make people feel powerless. The idea it discusses is called the “external locus of control,” which is the personal belief that outside forces—such as politics—have a huge impact on your life.
To put that another way, the external locus of control is when people feel that day-to-day actions of a CEO or politician or leader has a direct impact on them.
The issue with this is “an external locus of control brings unhappiness.” By believing someone’s actions outside of your sphere of influence is continually and directly impacting you, it leads to feelings of impotency.
Anger is a common reaction to this type of unhappiness, and social media is a way people can channel this rage. By posting online, it can feel as though you’re fighting back against this powerlessness.
Specifically, in today’s world. As the historian Dr Barbara H Rosenwein tells the BBC, anger has “been secularised and generalised… and everybody’s anger is virtuous.”
Posting negatively online can, then, feel righteous, as though you’re fixing something wrong with the world. The problem is this can actual embolden the individual or figure in question, especially if they’re someone who wants to in the public eye. Like a politician.
Research by Annelien Van Remoortere and Rens Vliegenthart from Wageningen University found that “media visibility has an impact on [the] popularity” of politicians, and by being in the press, they drum up support.
Trump saying something perceived as controversial, such as renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, creates an online whirlwind. When individuals react angrily and extremely to news like this on social media, more people on average engage with them. This creates a snowball effect and ensures the public figure is spoken about broadly and widely.
This works well for certain politicians, even if this coverage is negative, because, as The New Yorker states, “it’s easy to forget about the last controversy because, with Trump, you’re always onto the next one.”
In this way, he dominates the public discourse, ensuring that each and every day he is reported about in the news, and then it’s swiftly forgotten. Supporters enjoy controversies like renaming the Gulf of Mexico because they see him as speaking truth, and opponents rage against it online. The outcome is the same though: attention and popularity.
Ultimately, people use social media to give themselves a feeling of control in a situation where they feel powerless, but by doing so, they whip up a storm that draws more attention to a politician who thrives on it.
It’s a modern Catch-22, a trend of our era and one that’s not going anywhere. By next week, we’ll have probably all forgotten about renaming the Gulf of Mexico, and we’ll be onto the next controversy.
