BURSTESPN's Stephen A. Smith on Monday called President Trump’s remarks about the Washington Commanders team “petty” and “evasive.”
In Monday’s broadcast of ESPN’s “First Take,” Smith said the president is trying to “distract” from people’s frustrations by calling on the D.C. football team to change its name back to the “Redskins,” which is commonly understood to be a racial slur for Native Americans.
“I think it's the president being petty. I think it's him being evasive. Because the reality is, is that no matter how good he wants people to believe things are with the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ and other things that have been transpiring: tariff wars, the border issues, or whatever… there are millions upon millions of people in the United States of America that are not necessarily happy with some of the things that he's doing,” Smith said. “So what does he do? He caters to his base.”
He acknowledged that “if you're on the right, obviously you're happy with a lot of things that are going on, and there's nothing to take credit away from that. I’ll leave the political evaluations to other people.”
But Smith dismissed Trump’s comments as “much ado about nothing” and suggested they come just as much of Trump’s base of supporters has criticized the government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and called for greater transparency on the disgraced financier and sex offender.
“It's just him catering to his base to make sure that he serves to appease them in some way, to distract them from other issues, including the Epstein files, by the way, because a lot of people associated with the MAGA right want those files released,” Smith said.
“And you even have Republican representatives on the Hill wanting those files released, wanting to see for themselves because they're not buying what the administration is saying when they say that there's absolutely nothing there,” he continued.
Trump, in his remarks on Sunday, also called for the Cleveland Guardians to change its name back to the “Indians,” saying, “there is a big clamoring” to undo the rebranding of both teams in recent years.
“The Washington ‘Whatever’s’ should IMMEDIATELY change their name back to the Washington Redskins Football Team. There is a big clamoring for this. Likewise, the Cleveland Indians, one of the six original baseball teams, with a storied past,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“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 Commanders announced in July 2020 the team was retiring the Redskins name and logo after an internal review. For nearly two years, it was known as the “Washington Football Team,” and, in February 2022, the team rebranded as the Commanders.
Similarly, Cleveland’s MLB team dropped the name “Indians” after more than a century following the 2021 season.
In a second post on Sunday, Trump added that his “statement on the Washington Redskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way.”
He added that “if they don’t change the name back,” he might try to block plans for a new stadium for the team.