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Miami Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Trump says NFL's Washington Commanders must change name. But do Americans agree?
President Donald Trump has called on two professional sports teams to revert to their former names. But, do Americans agree? In a series of posts on Truth Social on July 20, the president took aim at the NFL's Washington Commanders and MLB's Cleveland Guardians. Both franchises rebranded several years ago due to concerns about the use of Native American names and imagery. Referring to the former, he said, 'I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders.'' He also threatened to block a deal allowing the team to construct a new stadium in Washington, D.C. 'Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians,' Trump added. 'MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!' However, while Americans are divided over the name changes, a majority oppose the president's statement and his involvement in the matter, according to a new YouGov poll. Agree or disagree with Trump statement? In the survey — which sampled 4,162 U.S. adults on July 21 — 58% of respondents said they strongly (48%) or somewhat (10%) disapproved of Trump's statement. Meanwhile, one-quarter said they strongly (13%) or somewhat (12%) approve, and 16% said they were unsure. The question prompted a significant partisan divide. Most Democrats and independents — 84% and 62%, respectively — said they opposed the statement, while 55% of Republicans said they favored it. Should president get involved? Additionally, nearly two-thirds of respondents, 65%, said it is unacceptable for the president 'to tell a professional sports team to change its name.' Just 15% described this as acceptable, and 21% said they weren't sure, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 2.7 percentage points. Here, again, there was a noticeable divide across the political spectrum. Most Democrats and independents — 88% and 65% — said the president's weighing in is not acceptable. Republicans were more evenly split, with 38% calling it unacceptable and 32% labeling it as acceptable. Should teams have changed names? Despite widespread opposition to Trump's involvement in the matter, pluralities of respondents said they were against both teams changing their names. Forty-three percent of respondents said they strongly (29%) or somewhat (14%) disapproved of the Washington Redskins — who played as the Washington Football Team during the 2020 and 2021 seasons — rebranding as the Commanders. Meanwhile, 34% said they strongly (21%) or somewhat (13%) approved. Similarly, 42% of poll respondents said they strongly (28%) or somewhat (14%) disapproved of the Cleveland Indians being renamed the Guardians. In contrast, 30% said they strongly (16%) or somewhat (14%) approved the decision. On both counts, Republicans were far more likely than Democrats and independents to oppose the name changes. The rebrandings were the result of years of deliberations. In 2020, the two teams announced they would review their names, following nationwide racial injustice protests, prompted by the death of George Floyd, according to USA Today. In 2021, Cleveland picked its new name, the Guardians, inspired by the stone traffic guardians on a bridge in the city, according to the Associated Press. The following year, Washington's football team followed suit, announcing its new name, the Commanders, in honor of the capital's military ties.
Politico
2 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Donald Trump's wide world of sports
WHAT'S IN A NAME — Donald Trump's weekend fusillade of social media posts may have fallen short in its aim of diverting attention from the firestorm surrounding the Jeffrey Epstein files. But it succeeded in advancing what's increasingly looking like the central project of his second term: planting himself at the center of American public life. With his call for the Cleveland Guardians to change back to the team's longtime name, the Cleveland Indians, and his threat to withhold a D.C. stadium deal until the Washington Commanders reverts back to its original Washington Redskins name, Trump signaled that dominion over Washington isn't enough. Every other institution — Wall Street, Fortune 500 companies, Big Law, higher ed, the media — must also bend the knee. That list includes professional sports. As a master of the attention economy and a product of popular culture, Trump knows the traditional understanding of the modern bully pulpit is outmoded. To truly command attention — and to speak to those who aren't engaged in the political process — a president must be everything, everywhere, all at once. To Trump, that means railing about quotidian details of life — the kind of sugar used by Coca Cola; the water pressure in toilets and showerheads; T-Mobile's service — but also establishing himself as a constant presence in the sports world. As president-elect, he made much-publicized trips to an Ultimate Fighting Championship fight at Madison Square Garden and the Army-Navy football game. Since returning to the White House, Trump has attended another UFC fight in Las Vegas, the Super Bowl in New Orleans (where he was the first sitting president to attend), the Daytona 500 in Florida and the NCAA college wrestling championship (marking his second appearance there in three years). A week ago, Trump unexpectedly showed up on stage to present the trophy at the Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where he stood center stage amid confused foreign players for English soccer giant Chelsea. While sports has always been politicized by the left and right — and a White House visit has long been a reward for championship teams in all sports — Trump has taken it to another level, He has functioned as a sports fan — recently joining the fray with his thoughts on Shadeur Sanders, among other topics — but also as a would-be commissioner eager to wield the power and prestige of the Oval Office in the realm of pro sports. After Trump said in February he'd pardon disgraced baseball great Pete Rose and criticized Major League Baseball, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred traveled to the White House two months later. Not long after, he reinstated Rose from baseball's ineligible list, making him eligible for the Hall of Fame. Manfred later acknowledged Trump played a role in his decision. Trump has even brought the mighty NFL — one of the world's most lucrative sports leagues and owner of 93 of America's top 100 most watched programs in 2023 — to heel. In May, with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at his side in the Oval Office, the president announced that the 2027 NFL draft would be held in Washington, D.C. on the National Mall. It's a redefinition of the presidency for the modern age, one that reflects Trump's populist bent. And it's a stark contrast with Joe Biden, who twice declined the traditional pre-Super Bowl televised interview, giving up the chance to speak to the nation's largest assembled live audience. He was absent from pop culture, except as the butt of jokes, and he paid for it. Carving out a beachhead in pro sports enables Trump to asymmetrically engage in the culture wars — weighing in on the policing of team names, for example — but without the partisan sheen. He understands instinctually that to project leadership across a fragmented media landscape, familiar political set-pieces, bland social media exhortations and the sit-down broadcast network interview aren't nearly enough anymore. Nor is the occasional lions-den podcast appearance. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@ Or contact tonight's author at cmahtesian@ or on X (formerly know as Twitter) at @PoliticoCharlie. What'd I Miss? — Trump installs new GSA acting administrator, sidelines DOGE leaders: President Donald Trump has appointed Mike Rigas as acting administrator of the General Services Administration, effectively layering DOGE-aligned Stephen Ehikian and Josh Gruenbaum atop the agency. Rigas, a Trump administration veteran who has served as deputy secretary of State for Management and Resources and as acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, announced the move in a message to GSA staff this morning. GSA staffers and people close to the Department of Government Efficiency view this appointment as a strategic move by the White House to rein in Ehikian, the former acting administrator, and Gruenbaum, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service within GSA. — Trump lashes out at federal judge presiding over Harvard case: President Donald Trump attacked the federal judge presiding over Harvard University's lawsuit against his administration in a social media post this afternoon. Harvard is seeking to restore more than $2 billion in funding from the federal government after the Trump administration launched a review of roughly $9 billion in grants and contracts with the university over accusations that Harvard violated the rights of Jewish students, including during demonstrations against the Israel-Hamas war. U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Barack Obama in 2014, heard arguments this morning in the case, the latest in a series of standoffs between the university and the White House. — ICE will 'flood the zone' in NYC: The Department of Homeland Security will 'flood the zone' with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City after the City Council blocked federal law enforcement agencies from opening an office in the city jails, President Donald Trump's border czar Tom Homan said this morning. Homan joined DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and other Trump administration officials to deliver that message at One World Trade Center after an off-duty federal customs officer was shot by an undocumented immigrant in an attempted robbery Saturday night, Noem said. — U.S. senators visit Canada to build bridges as trade deadline looms: With the clock ticking to an Aug. 1 deadline to strike a new Canada-U.S. trade and security deal, four U.S. senators met Prime Minister Mark Carney in search of common ground on some of the thorniest cross-border trade irritants: lumber, digital services taxes and metals tariffs. 'We are bridge builders, not people who throw wrenches,' Sen. Ron Wyden (R-Ore.) told reporters today following a 45-minute meeting on Parliament Hill. Top of mind for the visiting Americans was the successful renegotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that President Donald Trump once called the 'largest, most significant, modern, and balanced trade agreement in history.' — Judge gives ex-officer nearly 3 years in Breonna Taylor raid, rebuffs DOJ call for no prison time: A federal judge sentenced a former Kentucky police officer to nearly three years in prison today for using excessive force during the 2020 deadly Breonna Taylor raid, declining a U.S. Department of Justice recommendation that he be given no prison time. Brett Hankison, who fired 10 shots during the raid but didn't hit anyone, was the only officer on the scene charged in the Black woman's death. He is the first person sentenced to prison in the case that rocked the city of Louisville and spawned weeks of street protests over police brutality five years ago. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings sentenced Hankison at a hearing this afternoon in which she said no prison time 'is not appropriate' for Hankison. She also said she was 'startled' that there weren't more people injured in the raid. — White House removes Wall Street Journal from Scotland press pool over Epstein bombshell: The White House is removing the Wall Street Journal from the pool of reporters covering the president's weekend trip to Scotland, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told POLITICO. The move follows the Journal's report alleging that President Donald Trump sent a sexually suggestive message to Jeffrey Epstein in has denied the existence of the letter and POLITICO has not verified it. Tarini Parti, a White House reporter for the Wall Street Journal, had been scheduled to serve as the print pooler for the final two days of Trump's four-day trip to his golf courses in Turnberry and Aberdeen, Scotland. But the White House removed her from the trip manifest, Leavitt said. AROUND THE WORLD FARAGE MIMICS TRUMP — Nigel Farage announced today that any future Reform UK government would try to send prisoners overseas to complete their sentences — including to El Salvador. The Reform UK leader said the plan, which echoes one of President Donald Trump's own hardline policies, would see up to 10,000 'serious' prisoners serve their time abroad in countries like Kosovo or Estonia. The governing Labour Party dismissed it as mere 'headline-chasing.' Farage's right-wing party — which is leading the government in the polls — promised 'dynamic' prison places abroad, with the British government renting cells in third countries. Reform argues that pulling Britain out of the European Convention on Human Rights would remove a key barrier to this plan. SEARCHING FOR SPIES — Ukraine's SBU state security service launched a series of raids on the country's National Anti-Corruption Bureau today as part of a sweeping investigation into suspected collusion with Russian spies. The SBU alleges that one of the top detectives at the anti-corruption agency, Ruslan Magamedrasulov, and another elite officer at the bureau were working as Russian moles. Both were detained. In total, more than 70 searches were conducted. Nightly Number RADAR SWEEP THE BIGGER PICTURE — Between 1907 and 1935, most color photographs were taken using the autochrome process, which used colored potato starch, silver emulsion and glass plates to capture still images. Now, a century later, many of those photos are punctured with tiny holes or stained with purple and orange blotches as they deteriorate from light and heat exposure and their silver bases oxidize. While the original versions are gone, archivists are not mourning the damage done. Instead, they're celebrating the opportunity to study the pictures and learn about the science behind their decay. Katy Kelleher reports for National Geographic. Parting Image Jacqueline Munis contributed to this newsletter. Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.
Axios
2 days ago
- Politics
- Axios
Trump opens old wound with Indians vs. Guardians name debate
Epstein headlines, tariffs and foreign conflicts haven't kept President Trump too busy to pick at an old scab that, for some Clevelanders, is still healing. Why it matters: The rebranding of the Cleveland Indians to the Guardians is one of the most polarizing subjects among local sports fans and residents over the past decade. Driving the news: The debate remained mostly dormant until President Trump posted about the Washington Commanders (formerly the Redskins) and the Cleveland baseball team to Truth Social on Sunday. "The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team," Trump wrote. "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." Trump added without citing evidence. Between the lines: In a later post, Trump criticized former State Sen. Matt Dolan, son of the late Cleveland Guardians owner Larry Dolan. Trump suggested Dolan, whom AP reports is no longer involved with the team, lost his primary bids for the U.S. Senate in 2022 and 2024 "because of that ridiculous name change." Trump suggested Dolan would win an election "if he changed the name back." Flashback: Cleveland changed its name from "Indians," a moniker considered offensive by many Native Americans, to the "Guardians" in 2021. The team began removing the controversial Chief Wahoo logo from branding and uniforms a few years prior. What they're saying: Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti responded to Trump's comments in a meeting with reporters Sunday. "I understand that there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago," Antonetti said, per "Obviously, it's a decision we've made and we've gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future."
Time Magazine
3 days ago
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Trump Threatens Washington Commanders' RFK Stadium Deal Over Team Name
'Our country has far bigger problems! FOCUS on them, not nonsense,' Donald Trump tweeted in 2013. Then-President Barack Obama, Trump said, 'should not be telling' Washington, D.C.'s NFL team 'to change their name.' But now, there is a need to focus on the nonsense, it seems. As President Trump continues to try to turn attention away from scrutinizing his relationship with the late alleged sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, he posted twice on his Truth Social platform on Sunday about the name of the football franchise in the nation's capital as well as that of the MLB team in Cleveland, Ohio. 'The Washington 'Whatever's' should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,' he posted. '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!!!' In a follow-up, Trump added: 'I may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington. The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone. Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians. The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, 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. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!' (Dolan, a Republican who served five years in the Ohio House of Representatives and eight years in the state senate and whose father purchased the Cleveland baseball team in 2000, ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2022 and 2024.) Amid widespread concern about social injustices across the U.S. in 2020, both the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians decided to change their controversial names out of respect for Native Americans. Washington became the Washington Football Team that year, and in 2022 adopted the name the Washington Commanders, while the Cleveland Indians transitioned to its current name, the Cleveland Guardians, in 2021. Read More: A Linguist's Analysis of the Redskins Defense Trump was never a fan of the name changes, tweeting in 2020: 'They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct. Indians, like Elizabeth Warren, must be very angry right now!' (Sen. Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, has been mocked by Trump and other Republicans for her claims of Cherokee ancestry.) Trump's urging of the sports organizations to reverse their rebrandings comes as his second-term Administration has targeted diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in both the public and private sector. Speaking to reporters Sunday, Guardians' president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said, 'We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago but obviously it's a decision we made. We've got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last 4 years and are excited about the future.' The Commanders did not immediately issue a statement, but earlier this year, controlling owner Josh Harris said his team had no plans to change its name again. 'In this building, the name Commanders means something,' Harris said during a February press conference. 'It's about players who love football, are great at football, hit hard, mentally tough, great teammates.' It's unclear whether Trump has the authority to upend a deal that the Commanders and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced in April to return the team in 2030 to its former home at the capital's Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium after having moved to Landover, Md., in 1997. Amid years of discussions about redeveloping the storied-but-defunct sports and events campus, Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, signed into law in January a bill that transferred the land of the RFK Stadium from federal to local control for the next 99 years. Still, earlier this month, as some members of the D.C. Council expressed skepticism about the timeline and financing of the mayor's deal with the Commanders, Trump suggested he could intervene if the council doesn't approve it. 'It's a very important piece of property. It's a great piece of property,' Trump said, referring to the RFK Stadium site, 'You know, ultimately we control that. The federal government ultimately controls it, so we'll see what happens.'
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump calls on Washington Commanders to "IMMEDIATELY" change back to former name
President Trump on Sunday pushed the Washington Commanders NFL team to return to its previous name, which was scrapped five years ago because it included a word that many view as a slur against Native Americans. The president also threatened to block a complicated deal for the Commanders to return to a stadium in Washington, D.C., unless they return to the name "Washington Redskins." "The Washington "Whatever's" should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this," Mr. Trump wrote. Hours later, Mr. Trump said he "may put a restriction on them that if they don't change the name back to the original 'Washington Redskins,' and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, 'Washington Commanders,' I won't make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington." The Commanders hope to build a new stadium in Washington, D.C., at the site of RFK Stadium — returning to the capital city almost 30 years after the team decamped to Maryland. The deal is complicated: The stadium sits on federal land, but Congress in January granted the city control over the land for 99 years, clearing the way for the property to be redeveloped. City councilors still need to approve the redevelopment plan. Meanwhile in baseball, the president also pushed the Cleveland Guardians MLB team to change back to the Cleveland Indians, a name the franchise got rid of in 2021. "MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN," he wrote in the Sunday afternoon statement. Mr. Trump claimed, "Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen. Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them." The Guardians' president of baseball operations, Chris Antonetti, told reporters of the name change Sunday, "it's a decision we made and we've gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years. CBS News has reached out to the Commanders, the NFL and the MLB for comment. The football team in the nation's capital changed its name from the "Washington Redskins" in 2020, amid steep criticism and pressure from advertisers, Native American groups and some politicians. The team's then-owner, Dan Snyder, had previously vowed to leave the name in place. The team settled on the name "Commanders" after a brief period in which it was known only as the "Washington Football Team." A day before Sunday's post, Jason Buck, a now-retired defensive lineman who played on the Washington team in the 1990s, told TMZ he would "give anything" to meet with Mr. Trump to discuss changing the Commanders' name back. Mr. Trump has weighed in on the issue in the past. Earlier this month, he told reporters he was opposed to the Commanders' name change. "I wouldn't have changed the name," he said, when asked about the acrimonious redevelopment deal that could return the team to RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. "It doesn't have the same ring to me. But you know, winning can make everything sound good. So if they win, all of a sudden, the Commanders sounds good, but I wouldn't have changed it." The team last won a Super Bowl in 1992. And in 2020, he wrote on X: "They name teams out of STRENGTH, not weakness, but now the Washington Redskins & Cleveland Indians, two fabled sports franchises, look like they are going to be changing their names in order to be politically correct." Earlier this year, the president also urged Massapequa High School in New York not to change its mascot's name and logo — currently the "Chiefs" — despite a state-level ban on Native American names for school mascots. Mr. Trump directed Secretary of Education Linda McMahon to "fight for the people of Massapequa on this very important issue." Just over a month later, the Department of Education alleged the state policy violated civil rights law, and in June, the department said it had referred the case to the Department of Justice after the state of New York declined to rescind the policy. What shocked "Matlock" star Kathy Bates? A new you: The science of redesigning your personality "Somebody Somewhere" star Bridget Everett
