Trump Floats Renaming Strait of Hormuz the ‘Trump Strait’ at Tennessee Rally

President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he is considering renaming the Strait of Hormuz after himself, reprising a provocative idea he has floated before as the United States wages its war against Iran.

“We’re thinking about renaming it to the Trump strait,” Trump said during a nearly 90-minute speech at a midterm rally in Clarksville, Tennessee, according to a recap of the event published by The Tennessean. The remark came as he described the Iran war, claiming Iran’s navy had been destroyed: “Even though their navy has been obliterated — 159 ships at the bottom of the sea,” he said.

Trump tied the proposal to other renamings he has championed, including the Gulf of Mexico, which he has ordered renamed the Gulf of America, and Lake Ontario, which he renamed Lake America. “So we’ve got the Gulf, we’ve got a beautiful lake, now somebody said ‘you need a river,'” he said. “I don’t want to change the name of the Hudson River. Henry Hudson. He did a good job setting up that something a long time ago.”

‘Trump Ocean’ next?

He went further, floating names for the world’s oceans as well. “So we need a river. We need an ocean — I was thinking either the Atlantic or the Pacific. We’ll call it ‘Trump Ocean,’ or ‘Ocean of the Americas’ or something like that,” he said. “We should have before I get out.”

The president first suggested the Hormuz name change in a Truth Social post in early September, then later downplayed it as an idea that had simply been “thrown out there,” according to reporting at the time. Saturday’s rally reprised the pitch before a live crowd as the conflict with Iran continues to shape energy prices and the midterm campaign.

A base-rally in deep-red Tennessee

The rally at F&M Bank Arena was billed by the Republican National Committee as an effort to “supercharge” the GOP base in Tennessee, four days before early voting begins for the Nov. 3 midterms. Trump took the stage around 3:20 p.m. after an introduction by Kid Rock and wrapped up just before 5 p.m., repeatedly urging supporters to vote. “I’m on the ballot — just pretend I’m on the ballot,” he said. “Please get out and vote.”

Tennessee has been a reliably Republican state in recent decades, but the president’s approval rating there recently turned negative, with 46% of voters approving of his performance, according to the recap. Trump closed by bringing the state’s slate of Republican federal candidates on stage and declaring that “the golden age of America is upon us, but you must get out and vote.”

Reporting based on coverage by The Tennessean.