President Donald Trump is feeling increasingly "powerless," and according to a new piece from MS NOW, his latest "petulant" policy outbursts reflect his desire "to lash out and attempt to exert control" in response to that feeling.

Writing for the outlet on Saturday morning, reporter Hayes Brown argued that Trump's staff is so overstocked with "spineless sycophants" that no one told him how ill-advised his executive order renaming Lake Ontario as "Lake America" was. The order came in response to stalled trade talks with Canada. Beyond the staff's readiness to praise and swiftly implement nearly any of the president's bad ideas, Brown argued that the episode reveals several other things about Trump's current state of affairs.

"Let's start with Trump's obsession with branding," Brown wrote. "He spent much of his career appending 'Trump' to buildings he didn't build in lucrative licensing deals. In this second term as president, he's fought to add his name to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Much like the 'Gulf of America' executive order on his first day back in office, Thursday's order feels like a desperate attempt at getting his followers to associate 'America' with 'Trump.'"

That earlier "Gulf of America" order, signed in January 2025, directed federal agencies to use the new name for the Gulf of Mexico in official U.S. communications, though other countries and international bodies such as the United Nations continued using the longstanding name — a preview of the limits a unilateral U.S. renaming faces when the feature in question is shared with another nation.

He added: "Trump also tends to lash out and attempt to exert control when he feels most powerless. Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford decided to stand 10 toes down against U.S. negotiators in the face of looming tariffs, rejecting an overwhelmingly unbalanced offer from the American representatives. In response, Trump ordered the government to provide a bandage for his wounded ego, even as he likely views this order as a power move reestablishing his dominance over Ottawa."

Brown then identified a third and final thing Trump exposed about himself: his tendency to become "deeply frustrated whenever he can't force everyone to follow him." That frustration is likely to keep festering, however, because Canadian leaders such as Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have refused to accept the name change under any circumstances and enjoy strong backing from the Canadian public to continue resisting Trump's bullying tactics.

"Trump could decide Lakes Huron, Erie and Superior will be called Lakes MAGA, Donald and Trump on American maps, and it wouldn't shift Carney's stance a centimeter. (Lake Michigan, which shares the name of a swing state and is entirely inside the U.S., is probably safe.)," Brown added. "And, importantly, an updated map will be small comfort to the Americans who associate the high price of goods like toilet paper with Trump's overly domineering approach to the (former dominion) of Canada."

He concluded: "This name change is more insulting than threatening, more inane than likely to spark a new round of trade talks. The only way Trump's move could hurt Canada is if Carney hurts himself laughing at the impotence it suggests. There's simply no way for the administration to rebrand this trade war as anything but a loss — except maybe (maybe) for mapmakers hoping to cash in on the change."

Source: MS NOW