President Donald Trump took to social media on Sunday morning, campaigning for the Washington Commanders and Cleveland Guardians to revert to their former team names.
“The Washington ‘Whatevers’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past.”
There are not six original Major League Baseball teams, and the Cleveland professional baseball organization had several nicknames before the Indians moniker was adopted in the early 1900s.
In the post, Trump continued: “Our great Indian people, in massive numbers, want this to happen.”
Guardians president Chris Antonetti quickly stomped out speculation sparked by Trump.
“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,” Antonetti said.
He didn’t fully come out and say that the name will never change back, however. Cleveland baseball ownership is expected to change hands within a few seasons, as David Blitzer is set to become the majority stakeholder in the club by 2028.
The Commanders did not release a statement.
The Redskins changed their name to the Washington Football Team in 2020 and 2021 before adopting the Commanders in 2022.
After public pressure, the Guardians dropped the controversial Chief Wahoo logo in 2018. Cleveland was rewarded with the 2019 MLB All-Star Game. It did not take long for sweeping changes to follow, as the club dropped the Indians name altogether in 2021, rolling out Guardians uniforms, hats and stadium signage.
The Commanders, who were sold by Dan Snyder and acquired by Josh Harris in 2023, are in the midst of securing a location for their proposed $4 billion stadium at the old RFK Stadium site.
The federal government has threatened to intervene in those negotiations, and online speculation has already percolated that Trump could hold that site hostage, giving Harris an ultimatum to change the name back to the Redskins in exchange for clearance to build a new dome there.
It’s hard to envision a world where the Commanders and Guardians could try to put that toothpaste back in the tube. They ripped the Band-Aids off, upsetting older, traditional fans with their name changes during the social unrest of the global pandemic. It would be tremendously difficult to walk those changes back now.
