b'The first major element of our collective uncertainty is Donald Trump, himself, the consummate negotiator who started his second termwell, to be more accurate, preceded his second termby inviting the future ex-Prime Minister of Canada to Mar-a-Lago, where Trump dressed his country down as a client state and called him Governor of the Great State of Canada in a Tweet. After a decade in power, Pierre Trudeaus government announced its pending resignation. The bigger and more consequential target of the North American pressure campaignan honorable ef-fort to stem the tide of drugs and people flowing across Americas land bordersis, of course, Mexico! But while Trudeaus popularity among Canadians stands around 33%, Claudia Sheinbaum was just sworn in as the first woman and first ethnic Jew to be elected President of Mexico, winning 60% of the vote in a three-way race.So, is the whole Gulf of America deal just a power move intended to shame, or oth-erwise motivate, Sheinbaum into complying with our Presidents demands? And will he reverse his executive order if and when Mexico gives in? Thats the problem. While my requisite effort to make the big switch amounts to a couple hours editing pixels on a screen, that turn into ink on a page, what are coastal governments going to do? All of the states on the Gulf Coast are, in fact, the Reddest of Red states, and it is those states alone that really, ever, print signs that say, Gulf of Mexico. Correct?That amounts to thousands of highway and road signs, official printed and digital maps, not to mention hundreds of thousands of mentions in law, proclamations, and.state employee handbooks! Its sheer madness, and if you think about it, an ultimate and revealing test of how literally we take Mr. Trump. And this is no knock on him in any way. Its those of us who got Trump who never bought into the whole Nazi thing, or dictator dealbecause at his core, we know hes there to make a deal in our best interest. But Gulf of America is one helluva workload if its a bluff.Therefore (cue the drummers), I shall proclaim the Gulf Policy for The Coastal Bend Magazine, to be as follows: For now, we will maintain the status quo Gulf of Mexico usageuntilit is replaced in usage with Gulf of Americaby (1) The U.S. federal government as evidenced by its official National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather maps, which, by the way, have not been changed yet per President Trumps executive order, and; (2) Agencies such as NOAA and the U.S. Coast Guard start issuing weather and other statements using the new term, and;(3) The State of Texas starts changing highway signs. There you goour offi-cial you go first policy of the Gulf of America dilemma. I find myself liking it, as it really sounds pretty natural. We got used to Lake Corpus Christi, after they swiped it from Mathis decades ago, so Im anxious to see if it catches on! Just not here, yet.20THECOASTALBENDMAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'