Donald Trump unhappy with two team names in major league sports - 'doesn't make sense'

Irish Daily Star

24-04-2025

President Donald Trump blasted the decisions to rename the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians due to their ties to Native American heritage - describing the pair of title changes as "degrading to the Indian population" during a
rambling answer to a reporter
.
Following widespread calls to switch their names, Washington's
NFL
team and Cleveland's
MLB
team adopted the nicknames 'Washington Football Team' and the 'Guardians' in 2020 and 2021, respectively. The former organization further rebranded to the '
Commanders
' in 2022.
Speaking to members of the media at the
White House
on Wednesday,
Trump
insisted that he preferred the name 'Redskins' over 'Commanders' - adding that individuals with Indian heritage who he spoke to expressed a similar sentiment. "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 said.
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"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."
Despite voicing his preference between the two titles, Trump stopped short of sharing whether or not he'd force the Commanders to revert back to the Redskins title when the franchise builds its new stadium on federal land that the government gave D.C. control over.
Trump then shifted his attention to the Cleveland Guardians, who he briefly forgot the name of. "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."
The Washington Redskins changed their name to the Washington Football Team back in 2020
(Image: Getty Images)
Elsewhere in the discussion, Trump made reference to Massapequa High School - a public high school in
Long Island
whose team name is the Chiefs. According to New York law, however, all institutes must get rid of logos or nicknames that pertain to Indigenous people by the end of 2025.
In response, the Massapequa school district sued the state - though a federal judge ruled in favor of New York. Taking to Truth Social, Trump clapped back at the ruling and asserted that the name shouldn't have to be changed.
"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 wrote. "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!"