Trump pledges to reverse Obama’s mountain renaming

Donald Trump promised Monday that he would return the name of North America’s largest mountain to Mount McKinley, undoing President Obama’s decision to call it Denali.

Trump, who is running for president, tweeted late Monday that Obama’s act was a “great insult to Ohio.”

{mosads}The White House announced the Denali moniker Sunday, restoring the name that Alaska Natives had called it for thousands of years before a gold prospector named it after McKinley in the late 19th century, when he was a presidential candidate.

The mountain’s new name, which Obama announced in advance of a three-day Alaska visit that includes meetings with Alaska Native leaders, aligns with what the state has been calling it for decades.

Trump was not the first 2016 contender to come out against Obama’s action.

On a campaign stop in Columbus Monday, Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) said there was no reason to remove McKinley’s name.

“You just don’t go and do something like that,” Kasich said, according to The Associated Press. “In Ohio, we felt it was appropriate. A guy saw that mountain when he was one of the first up there … named it after the president. No reason to change it.”

The mountain, in fact, got McKinley’s name before he was elected, and he never set foot inside Alaska.

Kasich had tweeted his opposition earlier in the day, saying Obama had overstepped the limits of his authority.

In opposing the move, Kasich joined many Ohio leaders, including House Speaker John Boehner (R), Sen. Rob Portman (R) and Rep. Bob Gibbs (R).

But while many Ohioans pledged to fight the name change, they likely have few tools with which to do so.