President Donald Trump demands Washington Commanders, Cleveland Guardians revert to former nicknames

In the past five years, the Cleveland Guardians and Washington Redskins, previously known as the Indians and Redskins, each underwent name changes in response to complaints of insensitivity toward the Native American community. On Sunday, President Donald Trump called for the professional organizations to revert back to their previous names.

“The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team,” Trump wrote 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.

“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 Cleveland Indians officially changed their name to the Guardians in November 2021. The Guardians’ name is an homage to the Guardians of Traffic, eight large Art Deco statues on the Hope Memorial Bridge, located close to Progressive Field.

The team’s decision to change its name was only the final move in a long chain of changes. In 2018, the team changed removed the iconic “Chief Wahoo” logo from its jerseys and replaced the logo with the block “C.” It only took three more years for Cleveland to abandon the Indians name altogether.

Cleveland’s decision was partly spurred on by the Washington Redskins’ decision to change their name in 2020. After a period of civil unrest in the United States following George Floyd’s death in May 2020, Washington was under more pressure than ever to change its name.

A letter signed by 87 shareholders and investors worth a combined $620 billion was sent to three companies that are sponsors of the NFL and/or of Washington’s team: FedEx, PepsiCo and Nike. The signees had a simple but massive request: Cut ties with the Washington Redskins unless they changed their name.

Just nine days later, Dan Snyder, who was the organization’s owner at the time, announced Washington would be retiring the Redskins name and logo. For two NFL seasons, Washington played as the Football Team before officially changing their name to the Commanders in 2022.

Trump’s comments on Sunday might have been in response to former Washington defensive lineman Jason Buck. Buck played for the Washington Redskins from 1991-93 and believes the team excluded Native Americans when they changed their name to the Commanders.

“Just stand with us and stand for common sense and help us,” Buck told TMZ Sports. “Help me bring the Redskin people back in, completely into the fold of the United States, so we can fix their system and have them enjoy the exact principles of the Constitution given to us by God and our founding fathers … Let’s, let’s make sure that our Redskin brothers that helped build this nation have the same exact opportunities and blessings.

“I would give anything to be with President Trump and discuss this. We have got to come back to normalcy and just normal American life where, you know, we put those things aside. We love each other.”