MSNOW Anchor Criticizes Trump’s ‘Lake America’ Stunt Amid Canada Trade Dispute

POLICY WIRE — Washington, D.C. — MSNOW anchor Chris Hayes condemned President Trump’s recent attempt to rename Lake Ontario as ‘Lake America’, calling it a ‘deeply pathetic’ move.

Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to change the name of the lake, which spans both the U.S. and Canada, to ‘Lake America’. This action comes amid a growing conflict between the two nations following the breakdown of trade negotiations.

Hayes criticized Trump during his show ‘All In’, stating, ‘there is this old man sitting at his desk with a little Sharpie, reduced to a state of total delusion. I mean, just deeply pathetic.’ He further added, ‘Pathetic in a way that almost kind of gave me the willies.’

In a TikTok video, Trump held up a map of the lake and suggested ‘making a little change’. He then used a Sharpie to scribble out the lake’s name, replacing it with ‘Lake America’. ‘If you’re saying to yourself, ‘that is crazy. He cannot just rename a Great Lake by scribbling on a map,’ you’re right,’ Hayes noted. ‘Today, he scribbled his signature on an executive order directing the Department of the Interior to update the lake’s name on U.S. maps. This is what consumes the president of the United States.’

The proposed renaming follows the collapse of trade talks between the U.S. and Canada, leading to the U.S. imposing 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. In response, Canada announced retaliatory tariffs on certain U.S. imports.

The trade talks fell apart after Trump claimed on Truth Social in August that a deal had been reached, pending ‘finalization of documents’.

While signing the executive order, Trump also boasted about a previous order to rename the Gulf of Mexico to the ‘Gulf of America’. ‘Now, all we need is an ocean,’ the president said. ‘So, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.’

Hayes mocked Trump’s plan to rename the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, saying, ‘Sure, buddy. Go ahead. Change them both. Change them both to what? American Ocean One, American Ocean Two?’ He concluded, ‘Knock yourself out. Write all over the place with your Sharpie. You’re doing great.’

Hayes also criticized Trump’s earlier move to rename the Gulf of Mexico, suggesting, ‘nobody wants this’. He sarcastically remarked, ‘That was a few weeks after returning to office when again, he was at his strongest, right? ‘I am the king, and now it is Gulf of America.’ But now Lake America? Lake America? You sad weirdo. Nobody wants this. You know what they want? They want cheaper gas.’

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)