Illinois Governor Jokes Renaming Lake Michigan To Lake Illinois

The governor got jokes.

Right as President Trump has renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is chiming in with a joke of his own.

In a video the governor posted on Friday, he claimed that Illinois is annexing Green Bay (poking at President Trump's interest in taking over Greenland) and he made a joking claim that got the attention of Midwesterners everywhere.

He claimed Lake Michigan will hereonafter be known as Lake Illinois. Watch the video below:

@abc7chicagoIllinois Governor JB Pritzker jokingly announced on Friday, February 7, that the name of Lake Michigan had been changed to Lake Illinois, poking fun at President Donald Trump’s Gulf of America. Pritzker went on to say that Illinois was annexing Green Bay, mocking the president’s interest in taking over Greenland. In video posted to X, Pritzker intoned with faux seriousness, “The world’s finest geographers, experts who study the Earth’s natural environment, have concluded a decades-long council and determined that a Great Lake deserves to be named after a great state.” “So today, I’m issuing a proclamation declaring that hereinafter, Lake Michigan shall be known as Lake Illinois. The proclamation has been forwarded to Google to ensure the world’s maps reflect this momentous change,” he said. “In addition, the recent announcement that to protect the homeland, the United States will be purchasing Greenland … Illinois will now be annexing Green Bay to protect itself against enemies, foreign and domestic,” he added. Pritzker has been critical of Trump, and the footage comes just one day after the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Illinois and Chicago over immigration policies, according to local reports.♬ original sound - abc7chicago

Governor Pritzker posted the video a day after the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Illinois and the city of Chicago over their immigration policies, according to ABC7 Chicago. He also promised an announcement soon regarding the name of the Mississippi River.

Google Maps and Apple Maps changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America this week. Multiple places are poking fun at the name change. Moon Pie, the company that makes mini-cakes based in Tennessee, posted this on X:  

If you've checked social media, you've probably seen plenty 'Gulf Of' memes. But we do know there would be a shift in the whole Midwest if they really did rename the Great Lakes.

Besides waterways, there is a possible geographical name change. Iowa is exploring absorbing the bottom 9 counties in Minnesota and Indiana is receptive to taking in the 33 Illinois counties that voted to secede. Maps could get interesting in the next few years.