Donald Trump has continuously tried to assert his power as president in the sports world, and most recently, he’s taken to Truth Social to demand that two professional sports team bring back their controversial team names, “immediately.”
In a recent 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. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!”
For context, the NFL team Washington Commanders (formerly known as the Washington Redskins) officially retired their 87-year-old team name on July 13, 2020, due to public pushback about the term “redskins” being offensive to the Indigenous community, who viewed it both as a “slur” and a “stereotype.”
Similarly, the major league baseball team, the Cleveland Guardians (formerly known as the Cleveland Indians), officially changed its team name after the 2021 season. The team’s owner, Paul Dolan, credited the “social unrest” in 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, with making him want to change his organization’s name.
Here’s what people had to say about Trump’s most recent rant:
“hes gonna convince his base that the natives want the old names back instead of telling u THEY are the reason the names were changed. telling natives they are ‘loosing their heritage’ over these names is laughable nobody talks about that shit anymore. nobody fucking cares but him.”
“The President of the United States going on about the name of a Football Team this Sunday morning is just another example of how batshit crazy this shitshow is.”
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