Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) is upset that Apple Maps still calls the Gulf of America the Gulf of Mexico. So upset that he tagged Apple CEO Tim Cook in X and told him he had filed a complaint. “Hey @tim_cook, I just noticed Apple Maps still calls it the Gulf of Mexico. I sent a report through the app, but I thought you might want to know! » said the former Navy Seal.
It appears that Crenshaw is upset, triggered if you will, by the fact that Big Tech is not moving as fast as he would like. He’s so upset that he posted a cringe-y message in the style of an upset commuter at Target. Crenshaw’s laments are typical of a behavior I’ve observed among right-wing pundits and politicians in recent years, the rise of a kind of position and style once attributed to the left in online spaces.
Crenshaw grits his teeth and doubles down on the culture war. They are obsessed with identity politics, trying to eliminate their enemies, enforcing gender norms, and demanding that the culture bend to their whims even if it has no interest in them. This is everything they have long accused the left of doing.
Hey @tim_cookI just noticed that Apple Maps still calls it the Gulf of Mexico. I sent a report through the app, but I thought you might want to know! pic.twitter.com/fA7cWtOGY1
–Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) January 21, 2025
Less than 24 hours ago, as of this writing, Trump signed an executive order titled “Restoring names that honor American greatness.” Along with a host of other changes, the order stipulated that the United States would henceforth call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. Google and Apple have not updated the name.
These things take time. But just because Trump says the name is different doesn’t make it so. This is a body of water that is not exclusively used by the United States and Mexico, and the rest of the world will always call it the Gulf of Mexico. Many people who don’t live in the United States use Google and Apple Maps and it’s a safe bet that the the name will not change for them.
Wikipedia has also not changed the name of its entry for the Gulf. “Even if it were official, America doesn’t own the Wikipedia entries. (It) remains the Gulf of Mexico, as the rest of the world calls it,” said one unnamed Wikipedia editor in the page’s edit history.
“This is a modern version of Freedom fry chauvinism, which has nothing to do with geography and everything to do with politics,” said another Wikipedia editor, referring to an attempt by conservatives after September 11 to rename fries. “We have the same sort of thing as a perpetual complaint against the British Isles from a series of Irish publishers. This is nothing new or special, and can be documented on its own and with just a passing mention in the article if and when it becomes more than a soundbite at a press conference.
But conservatives like Crenshaw will publicly demand it, grimacing and embarrassing themselves. Ignorable in victory, they now exhibit the traits they have long accused their opponents of having.
The American right controls the Supreme Court, the presidency and the legislature. This kind of total political victory is not enough. They want you to love them too. They want you to laugh at their jokes, take their memes seriously, and call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.
The post pinned to Crenshaw’s X account is a 2021 “Conservative Guide to the Culture Wars.” The second item on the list is the assertion that a “winner mentality is better than a victim mentality.”
Over the next four years, I suspect we’ll see a lot more cringe-worthy messaging from Crenshaw and others as victors turn into victims when things don’t go their way. Or when things don’t happen as quickly as they’d like.