President Donald Trump has criticized the renaming of the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians as “degrading to the Indian population” in a meandering response to a journalist’s question. Washington’s NFL team and Cleveland’s MLB side, responding to widespread demands for change, transitioned to the names ‘Washington Football Team’ and ‘Guardians’ in 2020 and 2021, respectively, with the former later becoming the Commanders in 2022.
Addressing the press at the White House on Wednesday, Trump expressed his preference for the original ‘Redskins’ name over ‘Commanders,’ claiming that Native Americans he had spoken with shared this view. “I think it’s degrading to the Indian population, and it’s a great population, and they like when they’re called by various names,” he remarked.
“Now Washington, the Redskins, perhaps that’s a little different, but I can tell you that I spoke to people of Indian heritage who love that name and love that team, and I think it’s a much superior name to what they have right now and it had heritage behind it, it had something special.”
While Trump made clear his favored choice between the two monikers, he did not indicate whether he would compel the Commanders to revert to the ‘Redskins’ name when the team constructs its new stadium on federally controlled land that was handed over to D.C.
Trump turned his critique towards the Cleveland Guardians during a speech, expressing confusion over their name change from the ‘Cleveland Indians.’
“They changed the name of the Cleveland Indians. Why would you take the name ‘Indians’ off the Cleveland Indians? And now it’s called the Cleveland something else,” he added. “So it just doesn’t make sense to me.
“I think it really is demeaning to Indians. But to change the name of the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians, for example, to the Cleveland Guardians is not the same, and I’m sure it has an impact on the team.”
In another part of his speech, Trump broached the subject of Massapequa High School in Long Island and its mascot, the Chiefs. He noted that New York state law requires educational institutions to discard names or symbols associated with Indigenous people by the year 2025.
Massapequa school district put up a legal challenge against this mandate but was met with a ruling from a federal judge in favor of New York State. In rebuttal, Trump voiced his disagreement on Truth Social, insisting the name should remain unchanged.
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Backing the local stance, he declared, “I agree with the people in Massapequa, Long Island, who are fighting furiously to keep the Massapequa Chiefs logo on their Teams and School,” he proclaimed. “Forcing them to change the name, after all of these years, is ridiculous and, in actuality, an affront to our great Indian population.
“The School Board, and virtually everyone in the area, are demanding the name be kept. It has become the School’s identity and, what could be wrong with using the name, ‘Chief’? I don’t see the Kansas City Chiefs changing their name anytime soon! By copy of this TRUTH, I am asking my highly capable Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, to fight for the people of Massapequa on this very important issue. LONG LIVE THE MASSAPEQUA CHIEFS!”
