



Donald Trump has pledged to "Make Indians Great Again" by forcing two American sports teams to change back their names.
The NFL's Washington Commanders and MLB's Cleveland Guardians both rebranded from the Redskins and Indians respectively amid the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
But now, Trump has said that "a big clamouring" exists for the "Washington Whatevers" to change back.
On Sunday night, the President told Cleveland to rename its team "Indians" as it was something that "our great Indian people, in massive numbers," wanted to happen.
"Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them," Trump wrote. "GET IT DONE!!!"
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|Trump has ordered Cleveland to rename its team 'Indians' as it was something that 'our great Indian people, in massive numbers,' wanted to happen
The President then threatened to block the Commanders' deal for a new stadium if the team did not revert to its old name.
"I won't make a deal for them to build a stadium in Washington," Trump wrote.
"The team would be much more valuable, and the deal would be exciting for everyone."
Trump also turned his fire on Matt Dolan, the brother of the Guardians' owner Paul Dolan.
"Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change," the Commander-in-Chief blasted.
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|'Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change,' Trump blasted
"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)."
The Commanders switched to the neutral "Washington Football Team" moniker after BLM pressure in July 2020 before adopting its current brand two years later.
In February this year, the Commanders' owner Josh Harris claimed the new name was "being embraced by our team, by our culture, by our coaching staff".
Cleveland rebranded as the Guardians in July 2021.
And it ditched its "Chief Wahoo" logo in 2019, 104 years after the team first became the Indians.
BEFORE AND AFTER: The Cleveland Indians' new logo (left) and former logo, featuring Chief Wahoo
Meanwhile, Guardians president Chris Antonetti has said he is "not paying attention" to calls to rebrand.
"Not something I'm tracking or paying a lot of attention to," Antonetti told The Athletic. "But I would say generally, I understand there are very different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago.
"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."