She’s beautiful, all 20,310 feet of her

I don’t try to get involved in politics.

Wow, everyone says that, I get it.

Really, though. I ignore Facebook fights about abortion or Twitter scraps between Donald Trump and anyone he feels threatened by. Instead, I watch from the sidelines, scrolling through people’s ridiculous statements for entertainment while snacking on popcorn.

When I heard that the U.S. Department of the Interior announced the name change from Mount McKinley to Denali, I was ultimately happy. I was born and raised in the 49th state, and our mountain was called Denali; I myself had never called it McKinley.

Then, social media exploded.

Well, let me specify that.

GOP and Ohio politicians exploded.

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I understand that the mountain was named after William McKinley. When I was sifting through negative comments on social media Monday, I wasn’t fazed by it until I saw what Donald Trump said.


Trump tweeted hours after the news spread of the title change.

Okay, let’s set something straight.

First off, McKinley wasn’t the official title of the mountain until 1917, making it a 98 year-old name.

Got some questions for you, Trump.

Is Ohio insulted because McKinley was born in the small, podunk town of Niles? Are we not going to be considerate of the Alaska Natives who have called it Denali for thousands of years? How about everyone who lives in Alaska, too? Would you change it back because you think it’s the right thing to do or because you do the exact opposite of what Obama does? Do you honestly think you’re going to become president?

I got heated after seeing Trump’s tweet. Honestly, it makes me sick that he has stayed in the race for so long.

In just the past month, Donald Trump has managed to insult Mexicans, Asians, women, and anyone that isn’t a rich white man like himself.

Several weeks ago in Boston, two Caucasian men assaulted a homeless Latino man. They urinated on him, beat him, and were put in jail. The two men threatened police and urinated on the cell door. The men claimed they were inspired by the man himself, Donald Trump.

After hearing about the situation, Trump responded to the event.

“I will say the people that are following are very passionate. They love this country, they want this country to be great again, and they are very passionate, I will say that.”

Are you going to let Caucasians continue to beat and abuse other races because they’re passionate? Talk about white power. It amazes me how someone can overlook racism as passion.

This man will never rename our mountain, for the record.

Not too long after that incident, Trump was at a campaign rally in Iowa. He was discussing negotiating with Japan and China. He then imitated them, speaking in broken English.

“When these people walk into a room, they don’t say, ‘Oh, hello! How’s the weather? It’s so beautiful outside. Isn’t it lovely? How are the Yankees doing? Oh, they’re doing wonderful, great. They say, ‘We want deal!’”

After Trump said this, the crowd roared in laughter.

I don’t know what is more frightening, the fact that he is STILL leading in the polls or that thousands of supporters reveled in his blatant racism.

I laugh when I see “Great insult to Ohio!” on Trump’s twitter feed. If Trump is insulted about the name of a mountain going back to its original title, imagine how insulted Mexicans, Asians, African Americans, and women feel about the politician himself.

In early August, Donald Trump attended the GOP Debate only to be bashed by moderator Megyn Kelly. After the debate, Trump attacked Kelly on social media. In an interview following the event, Trump talked some smack about the Fox anchor.

“Well I just don’t respect her as a journalist; I have no respect for her. I don’t think she’s very good, I think she’s highly overrated…I get big crowds, I get ratings, they call me the rating machine. So she gets out and she starts asking me ridiculous questions, and you know you could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her whatever.”

That happened. (Mind you, that these three instances have all happened within a month.)

“Condoning the mistreatment of minorities, mocking several different races, and claiming that a woman had gone rogue because she was menstruating is exactly the president I want!” said nobody ever.

Donald Trump will never understand this country, let alone Denali.

I look at Denali every day. I see her when I drive to work. Sometimes, I sit at the Talkeetna lookout with friends and watch the colors change from the sunset. I watch the northern lights dance around her. I watch the clouds build up sometimes to the point where I can no longer see her, but I still know she’s there.

This is not your mountain to rename, Trump.

It has always been Denali to us.