By Merve Aydogan
HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - US President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to return Mount Denali, the tallest peak in North America, to its former name, Mount McKinley, praising the 19th century president it was named for in 1917.
William McKinley “was a very good, maybe a great president. They took his name off Mount McKinley, right? That’s what they do to people," Trump told a crowd in Phoenix, Arizona on Sunday, referring to the 2015 decision by the Barack Obama administration to officially give the Alaskan peak the name Denali, its original Indigenous name.
On McKinley, the 25th US president, who served from 1897 until his assassination in 1901, Trump said: "Now, he was a great president, very good president. At a minimum, he was a very good businessman. He was a businessman, then a governor, very successful businessman."
Highlighting McKinley's legacy, Trump credited him with economic achievements that benefited his successor, President Theodore Roosevelt, one of the more famous US presidents.
"So let’s say they were both excellent presidents, but McKinley did that. And that’s one of the reasons that we’re going to bring back the name of Mount McKinley, because I think he deserves it. I think he deserves it," he said.
Trump's comments drew backlash from Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, writing on X: "There is only one name worthy of North America's tallest mountain: Denali - the Great One."
Murkowski is a member of Trump’s Republican Party but is known for sometimes publicly disagreeing with the president-elect.