Is Trump just trolling Murkowski by saying he could change name of Mount Denali back to McKinley?

By
Suzanne Downing
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79

Donald Trump is known for the “Art of the Deal,” his bestselling business book and memoir.

Facing almost certain pushback from Sen. Lisa Murkowski on his nominees for cabinet posts and key positions in national security, Trump may have been setting the stage for such an “artful deal” when he said on Sunday that he might change the name of America’s tallest peak to Mount McKinley, the name it was known as since a gold prospector gave it that name in 1896.

In Alaska, there’s no particular support for such a name change. Although the change from McKinley to Denali was made by President Barack Obama in an executive order in 2015, Alaskans are not pushing for a return of the previous name.

If Trump is trolling Murkowski, she bit hard.

“There is only one name worthy of North America’s tallest mountain: Denali – the Great One,” she wrote on X in response to a Reuters news article about Trump’s remarks during the America Fest in Phoenix, a convention of young conservatives.

Trump says he will outlaw child sexual mutilation in America

Murkowski may be correct, but she also may have missed the real message. A president can change a name of a mountain at whim and for any reason.

If this is part of his famous dealmaking strategy, Alaskans would do well to revisit some of Trump’s tenets from the “Art of the Deal,” such as:

Maximize the options: “I never get too attached to one deal or one approach…I keep a lot of balls in the air, because most deals fall out, no matter how promising they seem at first.”

Use your leverage: “The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then you’re dead.”

Fight back: “In most cases I’m very easy to get along with. I’m very good to people who are good to me. But when people treat me badly or unfairly or try to take advantage of me, my general attitude, all my life, has been to fight back very hard.”

Have fun: “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game.”

Trump might just be having some fun, knowing that Murkowski would react.

Trump could also have fun by naming Denali something else, such as “Mount Steve Bannon,” after his ally who was jailed for contempt of Congress, who refused to cooperate with the Jan. 6 Committee run by Rep. Liz Cheney and Rep. Bennie Thompson.

He could name the mountain, “Mount Freedom,” or “Mount Patriot,” and set up a dare for anyone coming behind him.

The next Democrat president could, of course, switch it back to Denali.

Perhaps it will become the mountain in America that gets a new name every four to eight years — Mount Political Football, if you will.

Whatever the case, most Alaskans will probably still call it Denali.

With all on his plate, however, including wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, an illegal immigration crisis, a $36 trillion national debt, an Obamacare health care system that has destroyed the financial health of millions, and a military that needs to be rebuilt into a fighting force, it’s hard to see the renaming of Mount Denali as a top priority for Trump.

Alaskans and their congressional representatives and governor would oppose a name change, which makes it all the more likely that Trump is simply doing some Christmas season trolling of the person in the Senate who despises him the most: Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

79 COMMENTS

  2. These are going to be the four years from hell for Lisa. Frankie already told her that he thinks she should move out of the country.

  3. I think Bill McKinley got stiffed by Obama. I don’t know anyone with the last name of Denali. But our neighbors did have a cute Chihuahua named Denali. So ya, I kinda agree with Trump.

  5. For the readers who know anything about RPGs or MMORPGS, Trump has taken the roll of the “tank”. A tank is the front line warrior that draws all of the attention of the opponent/s while the other party members deal damage, enfeeble the mobs, cast support buffs and heal.

    While trump has all the deepstate players attention, the rest of the alliance of Trump does work without having the aggro, allowing the alliance to perform tasks with less resistance and hinderance.

    This tactic has been used by the deepstate players for a long time. When the holidays come around and everyone’s attention is focused on buying gifts and preparing time for their family, the corruptoids in government pass laws that benefit “the club” and further enslave the unwitting masses.
    The MSM also serves as a tank for the deepstate by keeping everyone divided by every label possible while closed door meetings happen without scrutiny.

    What a glorious time to be alive. To witness the pendulum swing back and forth towards equilibrium.

    Enjoy the show!

    • Trump would have made a great fly fisherman. This particular fly was an attractant, tossed on the water to trigger a strike, which it did. Cheers –

  9. No different than changing the military bases names. The reason for the name changes be it a mountain or military base is because of the Woke BS that started with the second worst president, Obama and continued with the worst president, Biden.

  11. A magnificent troll job by Trump. Renaming the mountain had a long, sordid history. It had several historic names. A few of them were Alaskan Native, one of those Denali, and a Russian name. McKinley was assigned by a prospector from Ohio in 1896. USGS referred to it as McKinley (among 2 other names) in 1900.

    AK Legislature got involved in 1975 formally requesting a name change. Congress retained McKinley in ANILCA in 1980. There have been several unsuccessful attempts to change names through the years, but the Alaska congressional delegation never had sufficient horsepower to override the Ohio congressional delegation.

    O’Bama got himself involved in 2015, pandering to Alaska Natives. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell made the change through an Interior administrative process in 2015, part of the O’Bama governing with phone and pen initiative. Trump asked Murkowski / Sullivan after the election if they wanted the name change reversed. they both said no, so he dropped it.

    From here, it is sheer trolling, though Trump does have a point. Congress chose the name at the passage of ANILCA. President Carter signed the legislation. To do this right, Trump ought to reverse Sally Jewell’s action and invite congress to pass legislation which he will promise to sign. Given that he already backed off once in 2016, that position may not be tenable. OTOH, if you want to see all the lawlessness of the last 20 years rolled back, Denali then reverts to McKinley until congress says otherwise. Cheers –

    • Specifically, there was Canton’s role in maintaining McKinley’s legacy and the influence the community enjoyed in Congress. Canton was formerly the center of a congressional district, which was represented by only two people for nearly 60 years: Frank Bow, who was elected 11 times, followed by Ralph Regula, who was elected 18 times. It was Regula in particular who fought against any efforts to rename the mountain, helped more and more as the years went on by his seniority. His interests in the subject weren’t limited to just William McKinley, either; he and his wife played pivotal roles in the establishment of the First Ladies National Historic Site at the home of Ida McKinley in downtown Canton. He left office in 2009 and the subsequent census diluted Canton’s position as a separate constituency, making any move to rename the mountain a lot easier all of a sudden. As Stark County is currently split between districts focused on Akron and Youngstown, it’s questionable whether they would have the same influence as they did during Regula’s tenure.

    • Craig Medred wrote about renaming McKinley in 2016. Great column. Takeaway is that Denali translates roughly to “Big Mountain.” It was not exclusively used on McKinley. Rather, it was used on whatever the local and most importantly visible mountain in the area. Where the land is flat and treeless, that may be McKinley. Other places, not so much. Cheers –

      ‘https://craigmedred.news/2016/03/10/good-bye-mount-mckinley/

  14. I’ll always call it Mt McKinley. Lisa may call it whatever tickles her deeply infected narcissism. Lisa would be smart if she parked her emotions, got her head cleared, and fully – completely support Trump and his political nominees. The backlash and consequences maybe painful and uncomfortable, not only for but Alaskans too!
    Get onboard Lisa, shut up, and contribute in a positive – meaningful way.

    • She is too busy being a minion of nancy pelosi, diane feinstein and the democrat party to give a rats bitt about we the people, we citizens, let alone we Alaskans….. her give a sh*t got up and left long ago….

  15. Been an Alaskan since before it was a state. It was always called “Alaska,” which was the indigenous term for “great land.” The mountain was always McKinley since before statehood. McKinley is a respectful and stately name. I will always refer to it with that name. Every feature of our state need not be named provincially. Names of national identity have value just as well. I say restore it to McKinley.

  16. Obama’s visit here was terrible. He ignored our governor, renamed our mountain, blamed us for climate change, then left. The national park is named Denali, go back to McKinley as there is support. Trump isn’t going to give Lisa the millions her Uncle Joe did.

    • That’s not true for you. Before his visit I had 30 plus people sleeping on the grass by my house. When he came they left miraculous and have not returned. Mind you that is the only thing he did for me.

    • Maybe lower 48 dwellers, who think watching “Life Below Zero”, “Deadliest Catch” or “AK Bush people” makes them instant experts, while they sit on their lanai sipping a tropical adult beverage, having never set foot anywhere further north than Dayton, OH….
      Of course if you are implying that Alaskans are NOT Americans, shame on you!

  18. Xlnt choice. I’ll always call it McKinley as well and am not a fan of any change that Obama made. Obama and his buddy the dementia patient are of the same ilk.

    In Alaska there was never much support for the name change away from McKinley.

  21. We never use the misspelled Koyukon dialect word bastardized by outside Whites to “Denali”, they also naturally managed to mispronounce it by making it sound gay, for Mt. McKinley.

    The Park Service has the dubious distinction of being the worst outside agency inflicted on our lands by the colonial governance in Washington.

    They insidiously recruit many of our youth into their organization to indoctrinate them in their twisted ideology of how people use and relate to the lands, animals and resources, contrary to Native cultures.

    Better just to leave it “McKinley” to remind future generations of the period when the Washington government was acquiring multiple colonies to exploit.

  22. Murkowski wrote…“There is only one name worthy of North America’s tallest mountain: Denali – the Great One,” and there is only one word for Lisa: RINO

  23. So apparently, many commentators on here think that being a troll is a good quality in a president. That being said, I hope that nobody who takes that view will ever call out anyone as a troll on the comments section here going forward, and that goes Suzanne as welll.

    • They really do. Suddenly acting like a child is a desirable trait in a president. Trump is a blithering idiot, but people love his bluster and inane comments. Some things just can’t be explained. Stupid gonna stupid I suppose.

      • “Acting like a child” eh? Interesting how children are noted for blurting the truth unfiltered. I say more truth has been uttered from Trump’s mouth than all presidents combined since Lincoln. The hallmark of politicians is every word they utter is carefully calibrated to fit an agenda. Not with Trump. Quite refreshing actually.

  26. I grew up calling it McKinley, and wasn’t about to change that just because Obama said so, so it’s McKinley for my entire life.

  27. Some random thoughts on this affair: The mountain got the name only on the news of his nomination in 1896. Without his win over Bryan, who would remember him? McKinley was a weak president, but the name stuck because assassinated presidents always get sympathy. It would not have remained if he had lived out his 2nd term. Ohio congressmen always blocked the re-naming. What Obama did was slimy, of course. If it had been named Mt. Wilson for a president with a “D” by his name, he never would have done it. Basically, Democrats believe they are entitled to always be in power, and they want to cancel any opposition.

    • BREAKING NEWS: An ad hoc, geography committee is entertaining the notion of renaming Denali to Mount Bobby Short as a poke in the eye to the elitists! Why not name it for one of our fellow plebs, eh? Better a Short than a Musk! But, while we’re at it, let’s add Trump’s face to Rushmore. A name change would be nice, but we the plebs might as well get something tangible out of the congressional process at the same time!

  29. I call it “Mount Mckinley” all the time, especially when I’m around Subaru drivers with blue or green hair.

  30. Any chance he’s doing this because of the whole American flag drama there this past 4th of July?! Name it Mt. America and call it good.

  31. As I recall, McKinley was named more or less as a joke, to rib the climber’s companion who didn’t like McKinley. As far as I’m concerned, presidential name changes are an abuse of executive authority. What we need to do is have a referendum, and let Alaskans decide, then everyone else shut up about it.

  33. I think we should rename anything with a politicians name on it.
    These politicians need to be knocked down a few notches.

  34. Obama and his s**tlist of name changers can go lick their lollypops.
    The real joke was when Nancy Pelosi told us her Uncle Joe Biden deserved to be carved on Mt Rushmore right before she gave him the boot and installed the Kackling Kamala to replace him as their “Golden girl” who “grew up in a middle class family” which Biden refused to go along with bussing her to a “white” school because He didnt want his grandkids being taught “in a zoo”.

    Now there is a slice of history to savor.
    When will the mountain carvers start carving out Joe’s face on the mountain?
    That ought to draw lots of tourists.

  35. As i recall the residents of Alaska were not consulted on the name change. Obama just stuffed it down our throats. As for Trump trolling her. It worked. She instantly went nuts. Face twisted up like she was sucking a lemon.

  36. The renaming of McKinley was nothing more than a BS — kiss move to assuage a small group of people and make a terrible president more palpable to a few people. Obama was the worst president ever in the US. Biden isn’t in the running because he was just a puppet for Obama for 4 years.

    • Kirk, I’m with you on this, but regarding Panama, I hope Trump seizes the canal and renames it the Chiquita Canal. What’s wrong with setting up puppet regimes, especially when they are in your neighborhood. We take Greenland and Canada and set up a “subsidiary” of some sort to oversee our interests in Central America; Putin and “his” Slavs can have Ukraine and the Baltic countries; and maybe China can be induced into taking whatever strikes its fancy in Siberia!

  38. Yeah, then again, getting a rise out of Lisa over is like trying to get attention by running through a gunpowder factory with a lit road flare.

    I mean, really, pretty small hurdle.

    Really, I don’t care who calls it what. The 48ers can remember an otherwise forgettable Federal employee who never looked at the mountain and never set foot in Alaska all they want.

    Instead, let’s just call it a win for state’s rights by ignoring the Feds on at least one thing

  39. Count me as one of the Alaskans in support of changing the name back to Mt. McKinley before Obama stuck his nose into it.

  40. OK Donald. Then we’ll ask YOU to change YOUR name back your historical family name of “Drumpf” in return. Fair enough.

  41. This was Murkowski’s “mountain renaming” pet project when she was courting the Obama administration. All whilst, she was doing NOTHING to help Alaska’s struggling dairy farms in Palmer stay in business. As a result, many cows that had been producing milk for Alaskans for decades (and generations), were eventually culled due to her lack of support, AND poor sense of priorities.

  42. Nobody I know calls it Denali, it’s always been Mt. McKinley. Obama only did it for political purposes anyways, since it is N. America’s tallest peak, named after a Republican, in a Republican state. . . . Calling Mt. McKinley “Denali” is just as legitimate as calling Pioneer Peak “Denali”.

  43. I still call Mt. McKinley, Mt McKinley.. didn’t even know Obama officially changed the name til today. Just more proof Obama did nothing of real importance.

  44. Denali is a good name for the park but I prefer Mt. McKinley for the mountain. I always assumed the name change was Obama’s way of feigning care for villagers to keep them voting for Democrats like Murkowski.

  45. How about naming it for Mark Levin, named ” the great one” by Rush Limbaugh. The exploding heads would clear many potential avalanches

  46. In the old days , we’d just vote on it . Why not have a honest vote of the people of Alaska ? Yep folks , that’s how it is done . Right next the vote on Rank Choice Voting using no outside funds from dark sources .

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