Cleveland’s got serious work to do, like renaming a portion of Lake Erie.
Cleveland’s City Council wants to call part of the great lake the “Gulf of Cleveland,” which NBC News reported was a satirical move poking fun at Trump’s renaming crusade.
Trump has dubbed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America,” and Lake Ontario “Lake America.” He also floated the idea of renaming New Mexico “New America.”
The Cleveland resolution passed 13-1 does not have the force of law, according to NBC News.
The “Gulf of Cleveland” was spearheaded by Cleveland councilmember Kris Harsh, saying Trump “is a man who clearly isn’t afraid to say what no one is thinking,” NBC News reported.
“I feel emboldened to take the extraordinary step of renaming Lake Erie as the Gulf of Cleveland today,” he said during his remarks Monday at the council meeting. “Keep in mind, there’s a very real person in Pennsylvania right now who wants to rename it the Lake of Pennsylvania. We cannot, as Ohioans, let the Pennsylvanians get a jump on us. It’s our lake.”
He was referring to Pennsylvania state Rep. David Maloney, a Republican representing part of Berks County, who has said he’s preparing a resolution to urge Trump to rename Lake Erie “Lake Pennsylvania.”
During the council meeting, Harsh acknowledged that Lake Erie is not a gulf, according to NBC News.
“And I say, ‘Who cares?’’” he said. “Listen to me very carefully and jot this down: Words don’t matter.
“Words don’t matter, but the whims of powerful white men like me do.”
Following the council meeting, Harsh told NBC News in an interview that “sometimes it seems like nationally the administration is equal parts cruel and absurd.
“So I thought naming Lake Erie the ‘Gulf of Cleveland’ would be, just perhaps — perhaps pull back the curtain a little bit and let people see how absurd this entire thing has become.”