As this week got underway, Ontario Premier Doug Ford lashed out publicly at Donald Trump over the White House’s new trade war against the United States’ neighbor and longtime ally. It apparently got the American president’s attention.

In fact, the day after Ford insulted Trump, the Republican wrote on his social media platform, “The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America in that we don’t expect to doing much business with Ontario any longer.”

Trump quickly started leaning into the idea, posting related online messages, and during a Wednesday interview with Glenn Beck, the president said of the idea, “You know, people thought I was kidding. Maybe I wasn’t.”

With this in mind, Trump predictably followed through on this absurdity, signing an executive order Thursday afternoon, ostensibly renaming one of the Great Lakes.

“We’re going to be changing the name of Lake Ontario, effective immediately, to Lake America,” the Republican said.

MS NOW’s James Downie noted, soon after the executive order was signed, “After the War of 1812, the U.S. government spent three years building a fort on Lake Champlain, only to discover in 1818 that it was on the Canadian side of the border. That was the dumbest Canadian lake-related event in US history — until now.”

If Trump and his allies expect people to take this absurd move seriously, they’re likely to be disappointed. Lake Ontario has been Lake Ontario for centuries, and because it’s an international body of water, the American president lacks the authority to unilaterally rename it with the stroke of a pen. I don’t doubt that the administration will embrace the label with enthusiasm, but it’s destined to be one of those phrases that only lazy GOP partisans use, joining “Democrat Party,” “Gulf of America,” “Department of War,” “death tax” and “job creators.”

As for the broader effort, whether the Republican appreciates this or not, stunts and taunts serve no practical purpose, other than making Trump appear small and petty. Indeed, the fact that he’s resorting to such silliness reinforces fears that he has no idea what he’s doing during a trade war of his own making.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates. This post also updates our related earlier coverage.

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