Trump Advocates for the Return of Classic Names in Sports
Former President Donald Trump has expressed his desire for both the Washington football team and the Cleveland baseball team to revert to their previous names. Through his Truth Social platform, Trump urged the Washington Commanders to immediately change their name to the Washington Redskins. He argued that there is a great popular demand for this change.Likewise, Trump mentioned the Cleveland Guardians, one of the six original baseball teams, suggesting they should also reconsider their historical name. Josh Harris, whose group acquired the Commanders in 2023, had already indicated that the current name would remain. Chris Antonetti, Guardians’ president of baseball operations, also noted that there are no plans to reverse the name change. Both teams adopted their current names in the 2022 season. Washington stopped being the Redskins after the 2019 season and was known as the Washington Football Team for two years before becoming the Commanders. Cleveland announced in December 2020 that it would stop being the Indians and announced the change to Guardians in July 2021. In 2018, the team gradually eliminated “Chief Wahoo” as its primary logo. These name changes sparked debates about racism in sports. The Guardians are the fifth name for the Cleveland baseball franchise. It joined the American League in 1901 as the Blues. Washington began in Boston as the Redskins in 1933 before moving to the nation’s capital four years later. Washington and Cleveland share another similarity: David Blitzer is a member of the Harris ownership group with the Commanders and has a minority stake in the Guardians.“Our great indigenous peoples, in massive quantities, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige are being systematically taken away,” Trump declared.
Donald Trump
