Two weeks before Donald Trump was inaugurated for his second term in office, he declared that he wanted to change the name of the “Gulf of Mexico” to the “Gulf of America.”
On his first official day back, he issued an executive order stating in part that “in recognition of this flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation’s economy and its people, I am directing that it officially be renamed the Gulf of America.” Two weeks later, there was a “Gulf of America Day.”
While many news outlets adjusted their terminology accordingly, the Associated Press was not among them, on the grounds that “the Gulf of Mexico has carried that name for more than 400 years.” This has resulted in the Trump White House blocking their access to the Oval Office and Air Force One indefinitely while retaining their access to the White House grounds, including the briefing room.
READ MORE: The White House Just Banished the Associated Press to the Kids’ Table for Good
On Monday, we learned more via veteran reporter Marc Caputo about why the White House was drawing a line in the sand with the Associated Press on this issue, and it has a lot to do with how they’ve conveniently adjusted their stylebook over the years to accommodate leftist dogma:
By spotlighting AP, Trump is amplifying Republican and conservative criticisms that the AP Stylebook, a first reference for most U.S. news organizations, shapes political dialogue by favoring liberal words and phrases concerning gender, immigration, race and law enforcement.
Taylor Budowich, Deputy White House Chief of Staff, elaborated on their position:
“This isn’t just about the Gulf of America,” White House deputy chief of staff Taylor Budowich told Axios. “This is about AP weaponizing language through their stylebook to push a partisan worldview in contrast with the traditional and deeply held beliefs of many Americans and many people around the world.”
President Trump’s decision to limit AP reporters’ access is as much fight over the Gulf of America as it is a protest of what White House advisers say is years of liberal word choices that AP’s influential stylebook has spread across mainstream mediahttps://t.co/H7hJrsY44r
— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) February 17, 2025
There was also this, which went unmentioned in the story:
Take a look at what the AP is up to behind the scenes. https://t.co/POhN80rs9H pic.twitter.com/ELKn1ESNxl
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) February 14, 2025
I suspect at some point soon that if one or the other doesn’t relent, the Associated Press will take this to a judge à la what now-former CNN reporter Jim Acosta did when his press pass was suspended by the Trump White House in November 2018 after an unfortunate incident involving Acosta and a young intern who was just trying to do her job.
Like Acosta, the AP may ultimately be successful in forcing a change back to the status quo at least as far as press access goes; but in the meantime, Trump and his team are shining a mega-spotlight on a big problem with the media outlet over the fact that they really aren’t neutral observers and recounters of current (and past) events and haven’t been for quite some time.
