Trump losing it – again
Hodge Podge
The Greatest Orange One Ever has finally done it. It took longer than I thought but the babbling buffoon who insists on insulting everyone and anyone, (especially those who deserve high status for the hard work they have done) has finally managed to upset more than just one or two segments of our society at the same time.
U.S. President Donald Trump rolled some solid strikes last week.
First he poked Quebec and the Quebecois on a couple of issues including a bad attempt at mocking their language.
After rudely dealing with Quebec he decided to then insultingly attempt to alter history and tradition by renaming Lake Ontario to Lake America.
What a funny little man.
Trump displayed his stupidity and insensitivity by suggesting his black felty sharpy pen put to a map was all that was needed to rename one of the most famous lakes in the world.
It seems his head has already been given a firm shake since I wrote this.
Trump picked on the wrong people – the Wendat – to insult and anger. It was they who originally tagged the large body of water with its name Ontari:io hundreds of years ago.
Wendat Nation Grand Chief Pierre Picard made it clear he was not happy and that the Wendat Nation was, “shocked” to hear Trump’s plans of renaming Lake Ontario. Picard suggested Trump’s bullish move was an effort to eradicate their history in the region.
Picard told members of the press the Wendat occupied parts of the St. Lawrence Valley to the Great Lakes, rich with both pre- and post-contact trade routes. They named the lake Ontari:io and the name predates the founding of both Canada and the United States.
Picard has apparently requested a meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra to talk about Trump’s move, and one is apparently scheduled for this week.
I’m willing to bet Trump will not attend.
“I want to tell him (Hoekstra or Trump) that it is unacceptable for us, as a nation, to have their president who can eradicate our history, our culture and our identity,” Picard said.
“I don’t think anyone is able to change Trump’s mind, but for us it’s important for me, as grand chief, to bring our voice to the United States and tell them we are very upset with the decision.”
Picard said he hoped mapping companies would not comply with the unilateral name change from Trump. Prime Minister Carney has told Picard that Canada won’t.
According to Castanet, American mapping company MapQuest posted that it’s not changing the name of Lake Ontario.
Trump’s move has been heavily ridiculed. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, posted a video of himself at a McDonalds restaurant, signing a fast food napkin to decree Lake Michigan would now be called “Lake Wisconsin.”
“See, I can sign napkins that say things, too,” Evers wrote on X.
Rochester, NY, City Council the largest American city on the lake, passed a proclamation on Friday unanimously condemning Trump’s move and declaring Rochester will continue to use the Lake Ontario name.
“No serious person from the native tribes or U.S. and Canadian cities which share the lake, will ever call Lake Ontario ‘Lake America,’ the proclamation reads.
“This desperate and flaccid stunt by the President is a clear distraction from the issues that matter most to U.S. voters: the failing economy, housing, affordability and, lest we forget, President Trump’s unwanted and unwarranted war with Iran,” the proclamation said.
Trump directed all arms of the federal government to start calling it Lake America.
Last week Trump pointed to his decision in 2025 to sign an executive order changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, and mused that maybe next he’ll change the name of the Atlantic or Pacific oceans.
Mohawk policy analyst Russ Diabo called the change, “totally asinine” and said it’s typical of Trump’s, “racism towards anything Indigenous.”
Veldon Coburn, associate professor of public administration and governance at McGill University, said Trump’s executive order, “means nothing in the scheme of the nations that pre-exist America by millennia.”
“It’s more humorous for Indigenous people to see someone try to engage in some sort of iconoclasm of erasing Indigenous presence because we’ve been here for thousands of years prior and we’re not going anywhere,” said Coburn.
If there’s any bright side to Trump’s action, Picard said it’s that Canadians now know where the name Lake Ontario really comes from – not the province, but his people.
“We’re proud of that, for sure,” he said.
