TOI correspondent from Washington: The Atlantic Ocean may owe its continued existence, at least under its present name, to Sundar Pichai. By MAGA boss Donald Trump’s own account, the Google CEO rejected his effort to rename the ocean after himself because it touched numerous countries, not just the United States.At a rally in South Carolina on Wednesday, Trump revealed that he had sounded Pichai about his desire to rechristen the Atlantic Ocean and asked him if he can handle it. The Google honcho, according to Trump, told him, “No no no…this time I am not doing it…please don’t ask us to do that” — because oceans are different from other water bodies in that they skirt many countries.“So I’ll probably pass on that..I think we should keep it as the Atlantic Ocean, right?” Trump said, indicating he had backed off from the idea.Google has not publicly confirmed Trump’s account, which increasingly sound hyperbolic or highly embellished, earning him the sobriquet “Dementia Don” from critics. The episode is the latest installment in the U.S President’s increasingly ambitious campaign to make the world’s geography reflect his understanding of American greatness, which appears to require that the U.S not merely lead the world but also get naming rights over its water bodies.First came the Gulf of Mexico, transformed by executive order into the Gulf of America. Then Mount Denali in Alaska was restored to its former federal name, Mount McKinley. In August, Lake Ontario, shared by the United States and Canada, became Lake America in the federal nomenclature.The U.S President has since mused about renaming the Strait of Hormuz the “Trump Strait” and New Mexico “New America.” A river is apparently also required to complete the collection. The Hudson River has been spared, partly because Trump praised its namesake for his historical exploits, while the Mississippi was left alone because he likes the electoral results in Mississippi.Google Maps has adopted the Gulf of America and Mount McKinley labels for users in the U.S in line with federal naming changes. At a rally in Kentucky last week, Trump boasted that Google had once ignored him but now followed his wishes, declaring that the company was “kissing my ass.” The remark was vintage Trump: crude, triumphant and revealing. The MAGA supremo presented a change in mapping labels as evidence not merely of administrative compliance but of corporate submission, scenes of which he has been rolling out with relish at the White House.In an extraordinary tableau at a White House dinner last month, tech executives whose companies have spent years presenting themselves as independent, disruptive forces in global affairs took turns to pay tribute to the man who controls the regulatory machinery surrounding their businesses. There were obvious reasons for the pilgrimage: Tech companies face antitrust scrutiny, questions about AI regulation, trade and tariff exposure, immigration restrictions affecting their talent pipelines, and enormous infrastructure requirements. A President who can influence the rules of the game is a president no CEO can afford to ignore.Trump’s handling – or taming – of Elon Musk offered another instructive lesson to tech oligarchs. Musk, who boosted and bankrolled Trump to victory in 2024, parted ways with the MAGA boss in 2025 after a public falling-out and briefly challenged him. Trump quickly brought him to heel. For Silicon Valley, the message was hard to miss: cultivate the White House, praise the president’s priorities, announce American investments and avoid becoming the next target of his displeasure.Pichai’s reported refusal to rename the Atlantic may well be a rare instance of a CEO pushing back – politely. It is a small victory for geography and cartography — and a reminder that even in Washington, where flattery, sycophancy, and adulation is now a flourishing industry, there are limits to what a CEO can put on a map.
