Trump Says He’ll Rename Highest Mountain in USA

25th December 2024

In 2015 President Obama re-named Mt McKinley to Dinali, the Alaska natives’ name for North America’s 6,100m peak.

The mountain was nick-named Mt McKinley in 1896 after a gold prospector exploring the region heard that McKinley, a champion of the gold standard, had won the Republican nomination for president.

It had officially called Mount McKinley since 1917.

“They took his name off Mount McKinley,” said President-elect Trump in a speech in Phoenix.

“He was a great president,” and my administration will “bring back the name of Mount McKinley because I think he deserves it.”

Denali, the local Athabascan name, meaning “the High One,” was officially designated as the peak’s name in 1975 by the state of Alaska, which then pressed the federal government to also adopt the name.

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, criticised the re-naming on the mountain.

“There is only one name worthy of North America’s tallest mountain: Denali – the Great One,” Murkowski wrote in a post on X.

There is only one name worthy of North America’s tallest mountain: Denali – the Great One.https://t.co/eT248xLxJC

— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (@lisamurkowski) December 23, 2024