The air over the old RFK Stadium site hangs thick, not just with D.C. summer humidity, but with the weight of history and the specter of a political play call. It’s ground zero for a potential power struggle threatening to sack the Washington Commanders‘ hard-won momentum and cast a shadow over the electrifying future of rookie phenom Jayden Daniels. Enter President Donald Trump, firing off a social-media Hail Mary that’s landed right in the middle of the team’s $3.7 billion stadium dreams and its cultural reckoning.
“My statement on the ‘Washington Redskins’ has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way,” Trump declared, setting the stage like a quarterback surveying a blitz. “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.”
His reasoning? Pure value proposition: “The team would be much more valuable, and the deal would be more exciting for everyone.” He doubled down, dragging the Cleveland Guardians into the fray with a similar demand for them to revert to ‘Indians,’ bizarrely linking name changes to electoral losses for Matt Dolan: “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)!”
There’s more: pic.twitter.com/9gSmTllAK7
— John Keim (@john_keim) July 20, 2025
This isn’t Trump’s first rodeo with the NFL. It’s the latest chapter in a saga stretching back to the 1980s USFL, where his ill-fated antitrust lawsuit against the league—infamously winning just $1 in damages—cemented a grudge. As sportswriter Jeff Pearlman detailed, Trump’s NFL-ownership dreams were dashed years earlier when then-Commissioner Pete Rozelle reportedly delivered a brutal stiff-arm: “As long as I or my heirs are involved in the NFL, you will never be a franchise owner in the league.”
This history paints Trump’s current stadium threat less as pure nostalgia and more like a veteran linebacker settling an old score, using his perceived leverage over the RFK land deal.
From hail to havoc: Fans roast, reminisce, and rationalize Trump’s name gambit
Fan reactions exploded faster than Daniels scrambling for a first down, forming a distinct ‘sandwich’ of emotion. The bottom slice? Outrage at the NFL and the name change itself: “No Redskins… no stadium. Cut the horsesht @NFL and fix this mistake.”
The meaty middle? Nostalgia and fervent support for Trump’s stance: “Hail to the Redskins!” and “Put the pressure on Mr President!!! The Redskins name is a Honorable name that brings nothing but Pride to its fans who have cheered them on for some 80 years.”
The top slice? Pragmatic hope that this pressure, however controversial, might finally secure the team’s return to D.C.: “This should be the standard to bring the team back to RFK.”
While the Commanders organization, under managing partner Josh Harris, swiftly reiterated that the name Commanders is permanent, President Trump’s threat injects uncertainty into the delicate stadium negotiations.
The name “Redskins” carries baggage heavier than a defensive lineman’s bull rush. Born in 1933 as a branding pivot from the “Boston Braves” to echo the “Red Sox,” the name was never the honor some claim. Linguists and Native American advocates have long documented its roots as a racial slur tied to colonial-era violence.
The franchise amplified this with cartoonish imagery—feathers, war chants, and a fight song originally urging fans to “scalp ’em!” (later revised under pressure). The cruelest irony? While leaning into this caricature, owner George Preston Marshall fiercely resisted integration, making Washington the NFL’s last all-white team until 1962—forced only by federal threats over their RFK Stadium lease.
Decades of activism culminated in 2020’s reckoning: sponsors fled, and the name fell, replaced first by the placeholder ‘Football Team,’ then the Commanders in 2022. To resurrect “Redskins” now wouldn’t just ignore history—it’d spit on the franchise’s own hard-won progress, from retiring Marshall’s legacy to building a modern identity under Josh Harris.
One lifelong fan poured their heart out: “I myself have lived and died with them every Sunday for 63 years. Hail to the Redskins Mr President. #HTTR4EVER.” This political punt lands just as Washington football feels truly revitalized. Jayden Daniels, the Offensive Rookie of the Year, isn’t just the future; he is the present.
Washington Commanders at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tampa Bay, Florida, USA Tampa Bay, Florida, USA, January 12, 2025, Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels with blood on his face at Raymond James Stadium. Photo by Marty Jean-Louis/Sipa USA NOxUSExINxGERMANY PUBLICATIONxINxALGxARGxAUTxBRNxBRAxCANxCHIxCHNxCOLxECUxEGYxGRExINDxIRIxIRQxISRxJORxKUWxLIBxLBAxMLTxMEXxMARxOMAxPERxQATxKSAxSUIxSYRxTUNxTURxUAExUKxVENxYEMxONLY Copyright: xMartyxJean-Louisx Editorial use only
Jayden Daniels’ 2024 stats scream franchise cornerstone: 3,568 pass yds (69% comp), 25 TDs, plus a rookie QB record 891 rush yds & 6 TDs. He led a stunning playoff run to the NFC Championship, delivering iconic moments like the ‘Hail Maryland’ miracle against Chicago. The idea that off-field political drama could disrupt the foundation being built around him—fortified by key additions like LT Laremy Tunsil and WR Deebo Samuel—feels like an unnecessary blindside hit.
Daniels possesses the poise of a seasoned vet, but navigating sophomore pressure is challenge enough without stadium politics clouding the horizon. As President Bartlet might muse in The West Wing, ‘The streets of heaven are too crowded with angels tonight,’ reflecting on lives lost to senseless battles.
One wonders if the ghosts of RFK whisper similar laments over a fight about a name many Native Americans find deeply offensive, a name retired during a national reckoning, now weaponized in a political game threatening tangible progress for the team and its transcendent young quarterback. The Commanders are building something special on the field. The last thing they need is an old grudge trying to rewrite their identity off it.
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