'Gulf of Ignorance': Bombardment of wisecracks derails MTG law hearing

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), after months of irritation that other countries won't follow President Donald Trump's order to rename the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of America," has introduced congressional legislation that would formalize the change and require other countries use the name as well.

But at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing marking up her bill, Democrats ridiculed the situation by forcing votes on amendment after amendment on a raft of possible odd names for the gulf, Politico reported on Wednesday.

"One amendment would have renamed the Gulf of Mexico the 'Gulf of Ignorance.' Another would have dubbed it the 'Gulf of Helene,' after a major hurricane that wreaked havoc off the coast of Florida last year," reported Ben Jacobs. "In a similar vein, Democrats threw out calling it the 'Gulf of American Should Rejoin The Paris Accord' — the global emissions reduction pledge from which Trump has on two separate occasions withdrawn the United States."

Perhaps the grandest attempt to troll House Republicans came from ranking member Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), who introduced an amendment to rename the entire planet Earth to "Donald Trump." “Let’s skate to where the puck is going,” said Huffman, adding that the amendment would be an opportunity for Republicans to “show how mindlessly cultish you are.”

Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) criticized Huffman over this amendment, saying it was not relevant to the proceedings since it didn't involve renaming the Gulf of Mexico — a point Huffman conceded.

All of this comes as the White House has tried to force news agencies at press briefings to adopt the name "Gulf of America," going so far as to ban the Associated Press' team from events, as well as from the Oval Office and Air Force One, for not complying with this directive.

This week, U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, himself a Trump appointee, ruled the administration violated the First Amendment by retaliating against the Associated Press, writing, “The Constitution forbids viewpoint discrimination, even in a nonpublic forum like the Oval Office.”