A day before the midterm elections, President Donald Trump joked that he would rename the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to the “Trump Reflecting Pool.”
Trump’s joke came during a speech the White House billed as the president's “closing argument” to voters heading to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as his party seeks to hold slim majorities in both the Senate and House of Representatives.
"We'll announce that some time tomorrow," Trump said. "I'm sure that Secretary Doug Burgum will have a lot of fun in announcing that. Now I'm only kidding. I'm only kidding. Please don't report it."
The president's quip on Monday came during a speech where he touted the Reflecting Pool's renovations, highlighting before-and-after photos.
"The pool is now better
and more beautiful than it's ever been before," Trump said.
Trump’s actual renamings
Despite the joke on Monday, Trump has pushed to rename other landmarks and bodies of water during his second administration.
In August, Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America.
The order instructed the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to formalize the change, and the National Weather Service began implementing the new name in maps, forecasts and other products in September.
The administration previously renamed the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America for official U.S. government use. Trump has also restored Fort Liberty's former name, Fort Bragg, and changed the nation's highest peak from Denali back to Mount McKinley.
Trump has also embroiled himself in a legal battle to rename the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, as The Donald J. Trump and The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts.
Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump jokes that he would rename Reflecting Pool after himself
