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Good on you for doing some more research. Imo Denali and the Gulf of Mexico are like Mount Vesuvius and the Mediterranean Sea, i.e., the names are eminently suitable and essentially permanent. I'm going to expound on this at length, specifically in regard to Denali, because the case for the Gulf of Mexico is so incredibly one-sided and obvious. The case for Denali is also one-sided, but it's much less well known.

To clarify, the name didn't originate in honor of President McKinley, it was created while he was still running for president.

In 1896, a gold prospector named it McKinley as political support for then-presidential candidate William McKinley, who became president the following year.

In other words, the mountain which had been locally known as Denali for centuries was arbitrarily utilized as a political pawn to boost the candidacy of McKinley, who turned out to be a mediocre president at best.

Also, it wasn't officially recognized as such until 20 years later by Democrat Woodrow Wilson, potentially as a conciliatory political maneuver towards the Republican party, which was dominant under the Fourth Party System. Little known fact, from 1869 through 1933, there were 11 Republican presidents and only 2 Democratic ones. This is somewhat misleading because Grover Cleveland was elected twice and the Republicans had a couple deaths in office, but still drives home their political dominance at the time.

Speaking of which, William McKinley was assassinated by an anarchist by the name of Leon Czolgosz, who appears to me a significantly more sympathetic figure than our contemporary Luigi, whom I personally find quite lame and reprehensible, but apparently the rest of you consider to be some kind of folk hero 🙄

A few notes about the circumstances and trial of this anarchist. See if you notice any parallels between his situation and ours.

The context which I have just provided should be reason enough to refuse the name Mount McKinley, based on the sentiments that have been superficially expressed on Lemmy and social media in general of late.

However, the fact that local Alaskans never stopped calling it Denali, and indeed successfully petitioned to have it officially renamed Denali in 1975, is even more damning. As per the Denali Wikipedia article

Indigenous names for Denali can be found in seven different Alaskan languages. The names fall into two categories. To the south of the Alaska Range in the Dena'ina and Ahtna languages the mountain is known by names that are translated as 'big mountain'. To the north of the Alaska Range in the Lower Tanana, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, Holikachuk, and Deg Xinag languages the mountain is known by names that are translated as 'the high one', 'the tall one' (Koyukon, Lower and Middle Tanana, Upper Kuskokwim, Deg Xinag, and Holikachuk).

All of these names are essentially different pronunciations of Denali

Asked about the importance of the mountain and its name, Will Mayo, former president of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, an organization that represents 42 Athabaskan tribes in the Alaskan interior, said: "It's not one homogeneous belief structure around the mountain, but we all agree that we're all deeply gratified by the acknowledgment of the importance of Denali to Alaska's people."

In conclusion, Trump can go fuck himself in his fat fucking ass.