President Donald Trump is threatening to hold up a new stadium deal for Washington’s National Football League—NFL– team if it does not restore its old name of the Redskins that is considered offensive to Native Americans.
“The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should immediately change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. “There is a big clamoring for this.”
The football team dropped the longtime name in 2020 after many years of criticism that it was racist toward Indigenous people.
Agreeing with the president’s post is Scott Turner, Secretary of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, who insisted that it’s time to bring back the name.
Turner wrote on X: “played in the NFL and was drafted by the Washington Redskins. Not the “Washington Football Team” or the “Commanders.”
“@POTUS is right. It’s time to bring the Redskins’ name back.”
Scott Turner played cornerback in the NFL for nine seasons, he was drafted by the Washington Redskins in 1995 and the San Diego Chargers before a leg injury ended his career
Trump also called for the Cleveland Guardians baseball team to change their name back to the Cleveland Indians. That name change was announced in 2021.
“Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen,” Trump wrote, without offering evidence. “Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them.”
Hours later, in another post, Mr. Trump threatened to impose “a restriction” on the Commanders by thwarting the deal announced in April for the team to build a new stadium in Washington.
“I won’t make a deal for them to build a stadium in Washington,” Mr. Trump wrote. “The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be exciting for everyone.”
The Commanders and the Guardians also changed their names amid the heightened sensitivity to the country’s history of racism.
“Times are different now than they were three or four years ago,” Mr. Trump wrote on Sunday. “We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!”
And in a later post Sunday, Trump claimed Matt Dolan, a former Ohio state lawmaker whose family owns the Guardians, “has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn’t understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election.”
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