Seth Meyers made fun of Donald Trump for trying to change Lake Ontario’s name to “Lake America.”
The late-night host called out the U.S. president and his staff over their efforts to rebrand the Great Lake that borders Canada.
“This is some real dork sh—,” Meyers said to supervising writer and producer Sal Gentile on Thursday’s episode of his video podcast “A Closer Look: Proof of Life And/Or Out of Office.”
“They’re just such dorks,” the host continued. “It is a real reminder that they can’t actually accomplish anything. Then … they take to social media (and) they have an army of people that are good at sort of flexing over this news that … Google Maps is calling it ‘Lake America,’ but nobody cares. They are flexing, but nobody cares.”
“Like a scrawny guy who’s flexing and wrote ‘Big Muscle’”
Meyers and Gentile then played a clip of Trump crossing out Lake Ontario on a map and writing “Lake America” over it with a Sharpie.
Gentile compared the attempted name change to a bodybuilder flexing on Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, Calif., to the indifference of passersby.
“But it’s like a scrawny guy who’s flexing and wrote with Sharpie on his arm, ‘Big Muscle.’” Meyers replied, as both laughed. “Everybody can see it for what it is.”
The show then played a clip of Trump talking about how he previously tried to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” In the clip, the president says, “So if you think about it, we have a gulf and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean.”
“‘So if you think about it, we have a lake and a gulf,’ as if you have to think about it,” Meyers quipped.
“All right, everybody, this is a real thinker,” Gentile said, mockingly. “We’re going to get the chalkboard out here.”
‘No work went into this’
Meyers also joked that the move changes nothing for Americans who swim in the lake when it comes to Canadian customs.
“I also like that nothing is gained, right? Nobody is like, ‘That’s so great. Every time we’d go swimming in Lake Ontario, we had to bring our passport.’”
He then shared an idea for 2028 Democratic presidential nominee.
“I think the next candidate for president on the Democratic side should just start saying things they’re going to rename,” Meyers said. “Like that they’re going to rename it ‘Trumpa Bay’ for Tampa Bay … like name things after Trump that Trump wouldn’t want named after him.”
Gentile eventually pointed out that the president’s efforts to rename the lake are indicative of a larger point.
“This is a great example of exactly what we’re talking about, which is his helplessness the second he doesn’t get exactly what he wants … he doesn’t think about things even half a step ahead,” Gentile said.
“His first move when he doesn’t get exactly what he wants in this completely unnecessary trade war with a close ally neighbour that’s going to affect the midterm elections that are coming up (and) have major economic and political consequences … his first retaliatory move is, ‘Well, I’m renaming a lake.’”
Meyers agreed and implied that it’s shameful.
“This is nothing that anyone can be proud of,” he said. “No work went in this.”
Last week, on the same video podcast series, Meyers called Trump’s trade war with Canada “lunacy” and joked that Ontario Premier Doug Ford looked like a dollar store version of the president.
Trump is trying to rename Lake Ontario after getting into a trade-related war of words with Ford, who told the president to kiss his ass before toning down his language and saying he hoped Canada and the U.S. could reach a trade deal.
Google and Apple both changed the name within their map apps to “Lake America” in the U.S., while Mapquest refused to do so on either side of the border.
