Latest news with #teamname
Washington Post
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
Trump has nothing better to do than debate an NFL team's name?
Donald Trump has never been beyond offering unsolicited advice. Here's some, from 2013, back when he was merely a reality show star. 'President should not be telling the Washington Redskins to change their name-our country has far bigger problems!' Trump tweeted, back when Twitter was Twitter and he didn't have a social media platform of his own. 'FOCUS on them,not [sic] nonsense.' That brings us to this past weekend. It should go without saying that the name of the NFL team that represents Washington but isn't headquartered in Washington and doesn't play in Washington — yet, anyway — should be of little or no concern to the president of the United States. But apparently, we have to say it: President Trump, this is not your concern. You said it years ago, when someone else was president — when Barack Obama said merely that if he owned the team, he would consider changing the name. Now, Josh Harris owns the Washington Commanders. Harris has said he isn't interested in changing the name, that it now means something inside the team's headquarters. The Washington Commanders are working on a deal for a new stadium with the District government. They can handle that without presidential interference — er, help. 'We're kind of moving forward with the Commanders name,' Harris said on none other than Fox News in April. 'Excited about that — and not looking back.' Which is where we all should be — president or owner, fan or not. It can be tiring to be a resident of the District of Columbia. Part of that is not having voting representation in Congress, a real and material aspect of living here that can make you feel like something less than a full American citizen. Part of that is having Congress right here on top of us, lawmakers with no real attachment to or interest in the city so tempted to insert themselves into the District's business. And it's tiring, in part, when Trump is president or running for the office. The attacks aren't just about the football team's nickname. The attacks can seem personal. 'Washington, D.C., has become a dirty, crime-ridden death trap that must be taken over and properly run,' Trump said in 2023 at a New Hampshire campaign stop. '… Being in real estate, I always kept clean properties. I like clean, clean, well-run, you know, tippy-top. We say, 'Tippy-top. We want 'em to be tippy-top.' Well, our capital is the opposite of tippy-top. It's a s---house. Horrible. It's horrible. It's so horrible. You know, our parks are littered and dirty and disgusting, and many, many homeless are living there.' D.C. isn't without its problems, like any city. It is not a hellscape. Far from it. At issue here is Trump's threat, made on his Truth Social media platform Sunday, that he could blow up the District's yet-to-be-completed deal with the Commanders for a new stadium if the team didn't go back to its old name. '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,' he wrote. 'The Team would be much more valuable, and the Deal would be more exciting for everyone.' This should, of course, be seen as ridiculous blathering, in large part because even the president doesn't have the authority to unilaterally undo the District's deal — passed by Congress in December — to take control of the land around RFK Stadium. But we live in an era in which ridiculous blathering can somehow morph into reality, so Trump's unserious posts have to be taken seriously. The two people in awkward spots because of this: Harris and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D). Start with Harris, who visited the Oval Office to help Trump celebrate Washington landing the 2027 draft (quite an accomplishment for a 's---house,' by the way). 'You are the ultimate Commander,' Harris told Trump as he presented him with a team jersey. Oy. Harris's concerns should be with the D.C. Council, which has yet to schedule a vote on the funding package Harris is counting on for infrastructure and parking around the new stadium he would build. (Side note: Fight on, Council members. Make sure you get some money from parking and rent — at least — before agreeing to any deal.) Bowser has made bringing the NFL team back to the District a significant part of her legacy — so much so that she celebrated the stadium deal before it was done, so much so that she softened her previous anti-Redskins stance on Monday, saying at a news conference that the old name wouldn't overshadow her desire to have the team in her town. Ugh. I wrote in 2020 that the old name should be changed, and while that moment in society and politics has passed, I don't want the name back. When Harris said in February that the name Commanders 'is growing in meaning,' it felt like the issue was dead. Finally. But Trump's online diatribe Sunday was less about the name than about the District and who runs it. We don't have voting members of Congress to whom we can turn. And too frequently, members of Congress elected by people in other parts of the country show interest in our affairs. Take that land around RFK Stadium, which is owned by the federal government but now leased to the District. 'The federal government transferred administrative control of this valuable property with the clear expectation that the D.C. Council would act decisively to maximize its potential,' James Comer (R-Kentucky), the chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, wrote last week in a letter to D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D). 'The Committee was disappointed to see the Council's vote on the stadium deal delayed, particularly given the significant economic benefits at stake and the clear mandate provided by federal legislation.' Was the clear mandate to rush to a deal without consideration of what's best for the District's 700,000 residents? In the end, the Commanders name shouldn't change unless Harris wants it and Harris vets it. The Commanders stadium shouldn't land in the District unless the District's leaders find a deal that works for the District's citizens. And the president should know our country has far bigger problems. FOCUS on them, not nonsense.
Japan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Japan Times
Trump threatens stadium deal unless Commanders revert to Redskins name
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Sunday to interfere with a deal to build a new football stadium in Washington, D.C., unless the Washington Commanders change the team's name back to Redskins. The NFL team dropped the name Redskins in 2020 after decades of criticism that it was a racial slur with links to the U.S. genocide of the Indigenous population. Trump had called for a return to the name Redskins — and for the Cleveland Guardians baseball team to once again adopt the name Indians — on other occasions, but on Sunday he added that he may take official action. "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," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. The team moved from Washington to suburban Landover, Maryland, in 1997, but earlier this year reached an agreement with the local District of Columbia government to return to the city with a new stadium expected to open in 2030. Trump has limited authority to intervene under the current home-rule law governing federal oversight of the District of Columbia, but he has raised the prospect of taking more control, telling reporters in February, "I think we should take over Washington, D.C." Representatives of the Commanders did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Some fans have advocated readopting the name Redskins out of tradition, but leading Indigenous rights organizations have opposed the name, including the National Congress of American Indians, the Association on American Indian Affairs, and Cultural Survival. At least one group, the Native American Guardian's Association, has supported the name Redskins and the "respectful use of Native American names and imagery in sports, education and public life."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Guardians aren't interested in change after President Trump calls for them, Commanders to go back to old nicknames
The Cleveland Guardians sound very good with their decision to rebrand, even after President Donald Trump called for them to revert back to the old 'Indians' nickname Sunday. Trump made multiple long posts on Truth Social on Sunday calling for the Guardians and the NFL's Washington Commanders to switch back to their old team names. He even threatened to block the Commanders' impending move back to D.C. and their new stadium if they fail to do so. While not mentioning Trump by name, Guardians president Chris Antonetti made it clear the team isn't interested in going back Sunday. 'I understand there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but it's a decision we made and we've gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years and we're excited about the future that's in front of us,' he said, via The Athletic. The Commanders have not addressed Trump's post. The Guardians officially changed their team name ahead of the 2022 season, shortly after they stopped using the 'Chief Wahoo' logo, which many saw as racist and offensive toward Native Americans. The Commanders retired their old 'Redskins' nickname in 2020. They went by the Washington Football Team briefly before landing on the Commanders. Their old nickname, which had been in use since 1933, was widely seen as an offensive slur and drew plenty of criticism in its final years of use. 'For obvious reasons,' Commanders owner Josh Harris said in August, that can't return. 'I think [Commanders] is now embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff,' he said earlier this year, via ESPN. 'So we're going with that.' Though it's unclear if the threat of blocking their stadium deal, real or not, will sway the Commanders, both Harris and Antonetti seem very content with their franchises' new names.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Guardians aren't interested in change after President Trump calls for them, Commanders to go back to old offensive nicknames
The Cleveland Guardians sound very good with their decision to rebrand, even after President Donald Trump randomly called for them to revert back to the old 'Indians' nickname on Sunday. Trump made a long post on Truth Social on Sunday calling for both the Guardians and the NFL's Washington Commanders to revert back to their old team names. He even threatened to block the Commanders' impending move back to D.C. and their new stadium if they failed to do so. While not mentioning Trump by name, Guardians president Chris Antonetti made it clear they aren't interested in moving backward on Sunday. 'I understand there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but it's a decision we made and we've gotten the opportunity to build the brand as the Guardians over the last four years and we're excited about the future that's in front of us,' he said, via The Athletic. The Commanders have not addressed Trump's post. The Guardians officially changed their team name ahead of the 2022 season, shortly after they stopped using the old 'Chief Wahoo' logo, which many saw as racist and offensive toward Native Americans. The Commanders retired their old 'Redskins' nickname in 2020. They went by the Washington Football Team briefly before landing on the Commanders. Their old nickname, which had been in use since 1933, was widely seen as an offensive slur and drew plenty of criticism in its final years of use. 'For obvious reasons,' Commanders owner Josh Harris said in August, that can't return. 'I think [Commanders] is now embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff,' he said earlier this year, via ESPN. 'So we're going with that.' Though it's unclear if the threat of blocking their stadium deal, real or not, will sway the Commanders, both Harris and Antonetti seem very content with their franchises' new names.
