
Trump calls for Washington Commanders to return to their old name
Trump has previously stated he believes the franchise should not have abandoned the former name, a dictionary-defined slur against Native Americans the team dropped amid corporate pressure in 2020. But the president had not directly insisted on a return of it until Sunday afternoon, when he directed a demand at owners of both the Commanders and Cleveland Guardians, who changed their name from Indians in 2021.
'The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,' Trump wrote on Truth Social, the social media network he owns. 'There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past. Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago. We are a Country of passion and common sense. OWNERS, GET IT DONE!!!'
(The earliest Cleveland baseball franchise was not a founding member of the National League and cycled through several nicknames before it became the Indians in 1915.)
It is unclear what prompted Trump's post.
A Commanders spokesperson declined comment.
The team name has been debated for decades, both before and after the old name was dropped. Washington played for two seasons as the Washington Football Team before it adopted Commanders for the 2022 season. In February, Owner Josh Harris, who acquired the team in 2023, committed to sticking with the current name.
'It's now being embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff,' Harris said then. 'We're going with that. Now, in this building, the name Commanders means something.'
Following the franchise's best season decades, which ended with a loss in the NFC championship game, a Washington Post-Schar School poll showed the name catching on. In May 2025, 50 percent of local people — and 62 percent of Commanders fans — said they either 'like' or 'love' the name. Roughly a year earlier, the same poll showed 34 and 36 percent, respectively.
The team has grappled with how to incorporate nostalgia and past glories, which include three Super Bowl championships. This month, the Commanders unveiled throwback jerseys virtually identical to the uniforms of their past, aside from the helmet and logo.
The franchise changed its name in late 2020 after widespread racial reckoning and protests in the wake of George Floyd's death while in police custody. Then-owner Daniel Snyder made the decision, which he had forcefully resisted for years, after primary sponsor FedEx called for the change.
Nicki Jhabvala contributed to this report.
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