Google changes name of Denali back to Mount McKinley after Trump order

A dispute over the name of an Alaskan mountain is raging after Trump vowed to counter an order issued during the Obama administration. 

After nearly a decade, the highest mountain in North America will be named Mount McKinley instead of Denali.  

The Obama Order 

In August 2015, then-Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell announced that President Obama had created an order to rename Mount McKinley to Denali, which many locals had called the mountain regardless of its name.  

At the time, the order had outraged Ohio congressional members, as the mountain had been named after President McKinley, who called Ohio his home.  

Other Republicans were more receptive to the name change, with Senator Murkowski (R-AK) stating, “There's a lot of things in Ohio that are already named after McKinley. This is no affront to our former president; this is all about ensuring that respect for the land and respect for the native people of the region is afforded.” 

Then Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted added, “I wouldn't want people from Alaska telling me what things in Ohio should be. So I guess we shouldn't tell people from Alaska what they should do in their own state.” 

The Mountain’s History 

The mountain was officially sighted in 1794 by George Vancouver, who, at the time, was surveying the Knik Arm. 

The mountain had several names in its early days, but it was eventually dubbed Mount McKinley by gold prospector William Dickey, who had written, "We named our great peak Mount McKinley, after William McKinley of Ohio, who had been nominated for the Presidency, and that fact was the first news we received on our way out of that wonderful wilderness."  

It was a bit of an odd choice since McKinley had no connections to Alaska and had never visited the state.  

Even though the mountain had been dubbed McKinley, most locals referred to the mountain as Denali. The Alaskan Athabaskans (also known as Dena) settled the mountain’s interior area. They had called the mountain Deenaalee, which translates to “the high one.” 

Trump renames Denali as Mount McKinley 

One of Trump’s first orders of business after taking office was to change the name back, but it was not received well by Senator Murkowski, who had stated, “Our nation’s tallest mountain, which has been called Denali for thousands of years, must continue to be known by the rightful name bestowed by Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans, who have stewarded the land since time immemorial.” 

Trump did not care, with his order stating, “This order honors President McKinley for giving his life for our great Nation and dutifully recognizes his historic legacy of protecting America’s interests and generating enormous wealth for all Americans.” 

Even though Trump ordered the name change, maps and internet searches are not really required to change the name back, but Trump just scored a win on that front. Google has already changed the name back to McKinley after the order was issued, proving again that Big Tech is terrified of Trump.  

This is not something that I am going to personally dig in on. It's not an order that I would have even considered, honestly, but I get why Trump is doing this. He is trying to rid the country of woke, and I am assuming that he considers this a “woke” move by Obama, hence the reversal.