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President Donald Trump threatened to hang up the Washington Commanders’ plans to build a new stadium in D.C. in the balance if the team didn’t revert back to the Redskins moniker.
Trump put the pressure on the Commanders, and the Cleveland Guardians, on Sunday – calling both organizations out in two posts made on Truth Social.
“My statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way,” Trump wrote in a second Truth Social post. “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.”
The president added that the Guardians should follow suit.
“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,” Trump added. “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)!”
Paul Dolan is the team owner. Matt Dolan holds a minority stake in the organization.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Commanders for comment.
Trump made the original demand for the teams to change their names earlier on Sunday.
“The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday. “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!!!”
Guardians president Chris Antonetti responded to Trump’s pressure in the middle of the afternoon. He said it wasn’t actually something the organization had on its mind.
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“But I would say generally, I understand that there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago,” he said, via Cleveland.com. “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.”
The Guardians had no additional comment on Trump’s posts.
Commanders team owner Josh Harris joined Trump, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in the Oval Office when the deal for the RFK Stadium site was announced.
Congressional lawmakers supported Harris going back to the old stadium site on the condition that the team and NFL would honor the old Redskins logo. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., said in November he would support the organization going forward with its plan after “good faith negotiations” with both entities.
“We were calling out leaders in case of really, woke gone wrong,” Daines said at the time. “The irony that they were canceling Native American culture as the DEI movement went way too far. This is honoring a Blackfeet chief who was born in Montana. He is highly esteemed. The Blackfeet tribe of Montana, their current chairman and tribal council signed a letter in strong support to bring the logo back. It honors Indian Country.
“We have good discussions with the NFL and with the Commanders. There’s good faith in negotiations going forward that’s going to allow this logo to be used again. Perhaps revenues going to a foundation that could help Native Americans in sports and so forth. We’re making good progress and, based on the good faith negotiations, I made a decision to support this bill yesterday in the committee.”
But Harris made clear in an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” that there were no plans to bring back the Redskins name.
“The Commanders’ name actually has taken on an amazing kind of element in our building,” Harris responded to Bret Baier’s question about the Redskins name coming back as part of this new stadium deal. “So, the people that certain types of players that are tough, that love football, are delegated Commanders and Jayden [Daniels], for example, is a Commander, and they’re ranked.
“And, you know, the business staff has gotten into it, and obviously, we’re in a military city here. There’s more military personnel than anywhere else, so we’re kind of moving forward with the Commanders name, excited about that, and not looking back.”
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