What’s In A Name? Incoming Potus Wants Mount Denali Name Back To McKinley

In his pending return to the White House, President-elect Donald Trump isn’t going to make his second term quietly by any means. What to officially call Alaska’s (and North America’s) tallest mountain is among the back-page headlines that will illustrate Trump’s second shot Commander-in-Chief, but it will likely be a big deal in the Last Frontier. In short, Trump wants Denali known again officially as Mount McKinley after the President who was assassinated in Buffalo, New York, in 1901.

Here’s more from The Guardian:

Trump, who spoke in Phoenix on the final day of AmericaFest, an annual convention put on by Turning Point USA, told his supporters that McKinley should have his name restored on the tallest mountain in the U.S. because he was a “great president” who “deserves it.”

“McKinley was a very good, maybe a great president. They took his name off Mount McKinley. That’s what they do to people. President McKinley was the president that was responsible for creating a vast sum of money. That’s one of the reasons that we’re going to bring back the name of Mount McKinley, because I think he deserves it,” the president-elect said.

While the name change to Denali had been praised by local officials, the name change also drew scrutiny from Ohio and other GOP lawmakers. According to the White House website on presidents, McKinley, who served two terms as governor of Ohio before becoming president in 1897, led the country to victory in the Spanish-American War and raised protective tariffs to promote U.S. industry.

Among those commenting on social media posts? Alaska’s Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski:

Here’s some more reaction: