Why does Trump want to rename Mount Denali? Is this really his priority as president?

In a move literally nobody asked for, Donald Trump has claimed he will reinstate the former name of North America’s tallest mountain.

The president-elect and close associate of Jeffery Epstein made the remark in Phoenix to a crowd of cheering ers. The mountain, situated in Alaska, has been called Denali since 2015 when former president Barack Obama signed an order renaming it. The moniker “Denali” comes from the local Athabascan name for the feature, and means “the high one.”

The state of Alaska designated the name of the peak as Denali in 1975, and had spent years pressuring the federal government to do the same, via the U.S Board of Geographic Names. The state’s attempts were blocked until the Obama decision.

What did Trump say about Denali?

As per Reuters, Trump made the uncharacteristically coherent remark while in Arizona, stating “They took his name off Mount McKinley…He was a great president.” The failed casino owner then added that he would “bring back the name of Mount McKinley because I think he deserves it.”

It is widely known that William McKinley never visited the mountain, which stands at over 20,000 feet, or just over six kilometers. The order Obama signed a decade ago also noted that the former 25th president, who was assassinated in 1901, had no “significant historical connection to the mountain or to Alaska.”

The mountain was named after the then-congressman because a gold prospector, who was a fan of McKinley thanks to the politician’s of the gold standard, learned that the Republican had won the party’s presidential nomination. It was officially named after the murdered president in 1917.

Who was William McKinley?

William McKinley was the U.S. president from 1897 until 1901 when the Republican was assassinated by political activist Leon Czolgosz. His istration is ed for its imperialistic territorial gains, which included Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Three of those islands remain under U.S. control to this day. He was also the last president who served in the Civil War, doing so on the Union’s side.

McKinley set the tone for years of Republican dominance, and he famously raised protective tariffs and kept the nation on the gold standard. In 2021, the C-Span presidential survey ranked him at 15th.

Why does Trump want to re-rename Mount Denali?

Why does Donald Trump do anything, really? There are a few possible reasons why he would mention this, and none of them make him look good.

The most obvious answer is that Trump’s istration is known for dog whistling (and occasional outright singing and dancing) their of far-right causes. Taking away the native Alaskan name of the mountain is a symbolic nod to the Republican yearning for a white America, in which history began in the 1700s. While Trump himself might not have masterminded the call-out, there’s a very real chance someone in his team told him to drop the potential policy.

Then again, this is Trump, so he might just feel an affinity for a predecessor who wasn’t lucky enough to survive an assassination attempt like the Home Alone 2: Lost in New York star did. However, that would require the president-elect to display empathy, which is something he’s failed to do in the public eye since at least 2015.

Trump’s fellow Republican and Alaskan senator Lisa Murkowski seemed to disagree with the policy.

It is unknown if Murkowski will actually battle for this, as she has ed in the recent Republican tradition of invade Greenland.