President Donald Trump is using the bully pulpit again in the NFL, this time to get a franchise to revert to its former nickname that was changed after decades of controversy.
Trump made multiple long posts on Truth Social on Sunday calling for the Washington Commanders to switch back to their old “Washington Redskins” team name. He even threatened to block the Commanders’ impending move back to D.C. and their new stadium if they fail to do so.
Trump also called for MLB’s Cleveland Guardians to go back to their former “Indians” nickname.
While not mentioning Trump by name, Guardians president Chris Antonetti made it clear the team isn’t interested in going back Sunday.
“I understand there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but it’s a decision we made and we’ve gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years and we’re excited about the future that’s in front of us,” he said, via The Athletic.
The Commanders have not addressed Trump’s post.
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The Guardians officially changed their team name ahead of the 2022 season, shortly after they stopped using the “Chief Wahoo” logo, which many saw as racist and offensive toward Native Americans.
The Commanders retired their old “Redskins” nickname in 2020. They went by the Washington Football Team briefly before landing on the Commanders. Their old nickname, which had been in use since 1933, was widely seen as an offensive slur and drew plenty of criticism in its final years of use. “For obvious reasons,” Commanders owner Josh Harris said in August, that can’t return.
“I think [Commanders] is now embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff,” he said earlier this year, via ESPN. “So we’re going with that.”
Though it’s unclear if the threat of blocking their stadium deal, real or not, will sway the Commanders, both Harris and Antonetti seem very content with their franchises’ new names.
(Scott Taetsch via Getty Images)
As for the validity of Trump’s stadium threat, the Associated Press wrote:
The Commanders and the District of Columbia government announced a deal earlier this year to build a new home for the football team at the site the old RFK Stadium, the place the franchise called home for more than three decades.
Trump’s ability to hold up the deal remains to be seen. President Joe Biden signed a bill in January that transferred the land from the federal government to the District of Columbia.
The provision was part of a short-term spending bill passed by Congress in December. While D.C. residents elect a mayor, a city council and commissioners to run day-to-day operations, Congress maintains control of the city’s budget.
