Speaking at a rally in South Carolina on Wednesday, the president said he had called Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, to ask whether the company could “handle” his proposal.

“I only like two oceans: the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. I’m not going to put either Trump or America on any other ocean but these two. So we seriously looked at the Atlantic Ocean, and I called Google Maps, who were really great with the lake … They’re still rattled from the Gulf. I said: ‘Sundar, I’m thinking of the Atlantic Ocean,’” Trump said.

Trump referenced his previous executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America, as well as his push to rename Lake Ontario as Lake America amid a trade feud between the US and Canada, for which he also signed an executive order requiring US federal agencies to use his new moniker.

According to Trump, Pichai rejected the latest proposal. Trump described the Google CEO’s response by saying, “No, no, no. This time I’m not doing it … Oceans are different, sir. They cover … a lot of countries. Please don’t ask us to do that.”

“So I’ll probably pass. Should I pass it?” Trump said, adding: “I think let’s keep it the Atlantic Ocean.”

    • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
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      15 hours ago

      They can’t. The USGIS sets names of things for Americans and Trump can basically order them to do whatever. I hate Google and friends but they’re an American company and within the borders of the US, the USGIS decides what things are named.

      Fuck them for everything else they’re doing though.

      • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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        29 minutes ago

        It’s definitely not the first or only fuckery with maps either. India has them display Kashmir as part of India, while other regions show it as disputed. If a nation is important enough to Google, they’ll do whatever you want to keep that ad money rolling in.

      • dgdft@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        There’s absolutely nothing whatsoever forcing these companies to use GNIS names, even for users within the US; they’re doing so purely out of their own discretion.

        Outside of federal contract work, you can use whatever names you want in a mapping product.

        BGN decisions are not required to be adopted by nonfederal domestic entities, such as private company applications (e.g., Google Maps and Apple Maps); however, some nonfederal entities have chosen to do so or generally have a policy to defer to GNIS nomenclature.

        https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12881

        • artyom@piefed.social
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          6 hours ago

          They absolutely can but at the same time, whose authority/responsibility is it to make these changes if not GNIS? Google’s? If Ukraine were to give up the Donbas to Russia in some sort of settlement, should Google respect that decision as well? When China and Taiwan argue about territory, whose side should they take?

        • assaultpotato@sh.itjust.works
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          15 hours ago

          They certainly don’t have to, I guess my point was less “they’re complying with idiots” and more “they didn’t initiate the idiocy”. I see how this is unclear in my comment, but I’m not sure how to make it more clear. MapQuest is an example of a mapping company choosing not to follow government direction.

          I guess as much as I severely dislike our technocrats and how they enable Donnie, I want to ensure we primarily blame Donnie for Donnie’s idiocy.

    • NateNate60@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      Because it is cheaper to placate him than to face the wrath of his government. Why else do companies do anything?

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    12 hours ago

    I love how instead of saying, “no,” he said “please don’t ask us to do that.” What a fucking pussy.

    • the_tab_key@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      You are taking Trump’s word for what he said. Statistically, there is a 0% chance that is correct. Was probably still some little bitch reply, just not that.

      • aksdb@lemmy.world
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        4 minutes ago

        When dealing with a pussy like Trump you have two possibilities: either you are in a position of power where you can come across as stronger than him (then he adores you) or you have to make him think the thing you want is a clever thing and it’s Trump’s achievement to pick the clever thing. Otherwise he will just steamroll you for the sake of feeling great and powerful.

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    11 hours ago

    As soon as the democrats are in power, they should instantly start breaking up these big corps (among many other things like ranked-choice voting and, y’know, trying and convicting all the criminals in the admin).

  • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.today
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    12 hours ago

    The conversation with Sundar never happened. We know this because Sundar would have immediately said “Yes, sir! Whatever you want, sir!” He has never said no to Trump and never will. This is because Sundar is pure evil.

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    5 hours ago

    I mean I don’t have that much love for Google, but I gotta feel bad for Sundar Pichai. Here’s a guy just trying to run his company, and the (supposed) leader of the free world calls- not about something important, not about a threat to the Internet, not about the future of online policy, but about renaming an ocean on a whim.

    And it’s your job to talk him down.

    I could see him saying like ‘secretary, cancel the rest of my day, I need to go home and cry for the future of the country’.

  • [object Object]@lemmy.ca
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    14 hours ago

    This is the fakest conversation I’ve ever heard.

    First, Sundar would gargle Trump’s soiled diaper if Trump asked. Second, there’s just no way Pichai was like “no that touches too many countries, oceans are too hard”. Also, Trump don’t know non US maps aren’t actually changed except the parenthetical. It’s literally an update to the locale mapping an intern could do. Maybe that was a subtle fuck off, but see point 1.

    Is the implication that he called Google before renaming the Gulf (but really only the US) and trying to rename Lake Ontario, because that’s never been the story. So why is he calling them now, and why does whether Google thinks it’s hard matter?

    So I’m calling it now: fake lies from the pedophile.

  • DaddleDew@lemmy.world
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    15 hours ago

    “No, no, no. This time I’m not doing it … Oceans are different, sir. They cover … a lot of countries. Please don’t ask us to do that.”

    So Google was perfectly fine with screwing over Mexico and Canada. Good to know. I hope the Mexican and Canadian federal governments are paying attention.

  • WanderWisley@lemmy.world
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    13 hours ago

    Oh good I’m sure this will fix the economy, give us affordable housing and healthcare, end the wars in Ukraine, and Iran, and end the genocide is Palestine, and get the Epstein files fully released… hey America are we tired yet from all this winning?