President Donald Trump said that he prefers the original Washington Redskins name over its politically correct replacement, the “Washington Commanders.”
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, conservative Virginia radio host John Fredericks asked the president if a deal to build the new Commanders stadium on federal land will have a caveat of requiring the team to keep its original Redskins name. While Trump had no news about the stadium, he said that he prefers Redskins over Commanders.
“The Indian population is a great part of this country, great heritage,” Trump said before citing other Native American-themed teams like the Kansas City Chiefs.
The president also had little appreciation for the Cleveland Indians changing their name to the Cleveland Guardians.
“I think it’s degrading to the Indian population, and it’s a great population,” Trump said. “And they like when they’re called by various names. Now, Washington, the Redskins, perhaps that’s a little different, a little bit different, but I can tell you I spoke to people of Indian heritage and they love that name and they love that team. And I think it’s a much, I think it’s a superior name to what they have right now. It had heritage behind it; it had something special.”
Jason Wright, president of the Washington Commanders pro football team, has said no to a possible switch back to the original Redskins name. In 2023, Wright said that the Redskins name will likely not return when speaking to 106.7 The Fan. The Washington team slowly phased out the original name after years of controversy over it being allegedly racially insensitive. After two years of it being simply called the “Washington Football Team,” it finally settled on the Washington Commanders in 2022.
“It is not being considered,” Wright said. “Period.”
Speculation that the team would switch back to the original name sparked when texts surfaced from Matthew Laux, a premium-seat sales manager for the Commanders and FedExField, telling a former luxury-suite season ticket holder, “As a fan of the team I didn’t want [the Redskins name] changed either.”
A spokesperson for the team later told Fox News that the Redskins would not return in response to a petition that garnered over 100,000 signatures.
“For nearly 90 years, this franchise had a different name, and many have fond memories of cheering for that team and watching it win three Super Bowls. This does not signify any shift in our approach, nor does it change the valid reasons for dropping the name,” the spokesperson said.
As Breitbart News reported, the Native American group leading the petition to have the Redskins name reinstated, the Native American Guardians Association (NAGA), spoke out against leaders of the Washington Commanders referring to their group as “fake.”
“We’re not a fake group,” co-founder Eunice Davidson told Fox News. “We’re tribal-enrolled members from tribes across the United States.”
“People want to call us fake and they’ve done that before,” Davidson added. “They never tell our story, and that’s their goal. To wipe out Native history. It’s discrimination when you go after one culture like this.”
Paul Roland Bois directed the award-winning Christian tech thriller, EXEMPLUM, which has a 100% Rotten Tomatoes critic rating and can be viewed for FREE on YouTube, Tubi, or Fawesome TV. “Better than Killers of the Flower Moon,” wrote Mark Judge. “You haven’t seen a story like this before,” wrote Christian Toto. A high-quality, ad-free rental can also be streamed on Google Play, Vimeo on Demand, or YouTube Movies. Follow him on X @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.
