President Donald Trump has called for the NFL’s Washington Commanders and MLB’s Cleveland Guardians to revert to their former names, the Redskins and Indians, respectively.
In a Sunday Truth Social post, Trump wrote, “The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them.”
He urged team owners to “GET IT DONE!!!”
The Athletic reports Trump later warned that if the Commanders do not restore the Redskins name, “I won’t make a deal for them to build a stadium in Washington. The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be exciting for everyone.”
He also claimed Guardians owner “Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change.”In fact, Paul Dolan, Matt’s brother, is the primary owner and CEO of the Guardians. Matt Dolan, a partial owner, is an Ohio State Senator who lost Republican primaries for the U.S. Senate in 2022 and 2024.
Cleveland Guardians president Chris Antonetti emphasized the team’s focus on its future, not its past nickname. The Commanders did not immediately comment on Trump’s post.
In April, Washington, D.C., and the Commanders agreed to build a 65,000-seat stadium at the RFK Stadium site in Northeast Washington, set to open in 2030. Fans have long awaited the team’s return to the site since it moved to Landover, Maryland, in 1997.