Failed USFL Team Owner Donald Trump Wants to Rename NFL and MLB Teams

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on July 21, 2025

An Editorial Opinion

Yesterday, President Donald Trump published two posts on Truth Social urging the Washington Commanders NFL team to change its name back to the "Washington Redskins" and the Cleveland Guardians MLB team to change its name back to the "Cleveland Indians."

Trump threatened the Commanders by stating, “I may put a restriction on [the Commanders] 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.”

Here are Trump's two posts:

Why were the Team Names Changed?

The Washington Redskins changed their name to the "Washington Commanders" due to increasing pressure and criticism related to the original name's offensive nature towards Native Americans. The name "Redskins" and its associated logo were seen as a slur and a derogatory stereotype, leading to decades of protests and advocacy for a change. 

The Cleveland Indians changed their name to the "Cleveland Guardians" primarily due to mounting pressure and criticism that the "Indians" name and the "Chief Wahoo" logo were offensive and perpetuated harmful stereotypes of Native Americans. 

What is Trump's Desired Goal in Renaming the Teams?

To Trump, the current names of these two professional sports teams reflect a form of “wokeness” that he will not tolerate.  He wants a return to the original team names, no matter how offensive Native Americans may find them to be.

As depicted in the photo below, on March 17, 2025, Trump hung a copy of the Declaration of Independence in the Oval Office on a wall not far from the president’s desk.  The Declaration proudly proclaims that Native Americans are “merciless Indian Savages.”

Trump has not commented on whether Native Americans are offended by the “merciless Indian Savages” language in the Declaration, or not.  It is readily apparent that Trump finds nothing offensive about this language.

Was Trump’s prominent display of the “merciless Indian Savages” language in the Oval Office next to his desk, together with yesterday's posts about the "Washington Redskins" and "Cleveland Indians," meant to signal an end to “wokeness” with respect to America’s 574 Tribes of Indigenous Peoples?

Trump's Presidential Priorities are Clear

Interestingly, Donald Trump does not have the time or energy to hunt down and arrest the legion of Jeffrey Epstein child molesters, child rapists, and child pornographers who are on the verge of escaping federal criminal prosecution when the statute of limitations runs out, but he has plenty of time and energy to focus on renaming professional sports teams whose original names and logos offended Native Americans.

Wow! Make it make sense!

Finally, we must all remember that Donald Trump was the owner of the New Jersey Generals, a team in the now-defunct United States Football League (USFL).  The Generals played professional football from 1983 to 1985, after which the USFL collapsed.  Thereafter, the Generals became another one of Trump's many failed business enterprises. As such, Trump is in no position to advise the NFL and MLB on how to name teams, or how to achieve and grow economic value in teams, or how to run successful professional sports leagues.