Likely trying to deflect from the current disaster that is his administration’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case files and revelations about his relationship with the deceased sex trafficker, Donald Trump is trying to bully sports teams into restoring their old, racist team names.
“The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,” Trump wrote Sunday on Truth Social, endorsing offensive stereotypes. “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!!!”
The team now known as the Washington Commanders retired the “Redskins” name, in July 2020 following threats from sponsors to cut ties if they kept the old name, including FedEx, which has its name of the field where the team plays. The term is widely considered a racial slur.
Trump did not seem so passionate about this very issue just a couple weeks ago when he said that he “wouldn’t have changed the name” but added, “You know, winning can make everything sound good. So, if they’re winning, all of a sudden Commanders sounds good. But I wouldn’t have changed the name.”
In a follow-up statement, posted later on Sunday afternoon, Trump threatened to interfere with the team’s deal to build a new stadium in D.C. unless they changed their name back.
“My statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way,” he wrote. “I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ 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 more exciting for everyone.”
He added, “Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians… Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!”
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The Cleveland Indians in 2020 dropped their team name and changed it to the Cleveland Guardians.
“Hearing firsthand the stories and experiences of Native American people, we gained a deeper understanding of how tribal communities feel about the team name and the detrimental effects it has on them,” Guardians owner and chairman Paul Dolan said when the decision was announced.
A University of Michigan study that polled more than 1,000 Native Americans in Feb. 2020 found that most generally opposed Native mascots. Among Native Americans “who frequently engage in tribal or cultural practices,” 67 percent of respondents found the Redskins team name offensive. Of all Native Americans polled, half said that they find gestures like the tomahawk chop and mascots wearing chief headdresses to be offensive. The Washington team’s logo under its old name was a cartoon of a Native American wearing feathers on his head.
Commanders owner Josh Harris in an April interview did not seem interested in changing the team name. Harris told Bret Baier the team was “moving forward with the Commanders name, excited about that and not looking back.”
This story has been updated with a new statement from Trump.
From Rolling Stone US
