In news that was hardly on anyone’s wishlist, Donald Trump is demanding a name change from the Washington Commanders, and he’s threatening them in the process. He wants the team to restore the old “Redskins” name, which is highly offensive to Native Americans. If the team doesn’t do it, POTUS says he’ll hold up a new stadium deal for the franchise. Despite the threats, MAGA supporter Taylor Lewan finds the whole thing more funny than concerning.
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Lewan and his co-host of the Bussin’ With The Boys pod, Will Compton, have a reputation for being MAGA boys. They hosted Trump on the show during the 2024 election season, shouted him out after his win, and have shown other public displays of support in the past.
That’s why Lewan wanted to talk about the storyline regarding Trump putting pressure on the Washington Commanders to change their name. But first, he wanted to clarify that he wasn’t politically motivated.
“This is not a political stance. I know a lot of people call us the ‘MAGA podcast.’ I just want to comment on the fact that he’s basically threatening an NFL team and giving them restrictions if they don’t change their name back to the Washington Redskins,” Lewan started his argument on Bussin’ With The Boys.
However, to be fair, the former tackle’s reaction came off as a bit biased.
“That is, without a doubt, just funny. That is objectively funny. Everything else, ‘Well, he’s this, and that, and he’s a bad person.’ Don’t care. That is funny,” Lewan said.
Maybe it’s funny to the MAGA supporter who voted for Trump, but it’s not funny to the Native American community. The Commanders changed their name in 2022 after mounting public pressure from Native American sponsors and advocacy groups who found the name offensive. At the time, that change was widely seen as a positive step.
Furthermore, the name change came on the back end of the George Floyd protests and conversations around racial injustice. Sponsors like Pepsi and Nike threatened Washington that they would withdraw their deals with the team if they didn’t change the name.
One has to wonder how that plays into Trump’s desire to bring the name back. There’s no way the Commanders are going to revert if those massive sponsors pull their funding.
All in all, Lewan isn’t completely wrong. There’s some humor to be found in the president forcing an NFL team to change its name amid other, more important issues going on in the nation and world. But it’s dark humor. In the sense that it’s somewhat terrifying, where the leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world’s priorities lie. You may laugh about it for a second before realizing how ridiculous it sounds.
