Donald Trump barely hides his desire to see his name forever attached to a wide array of objects and buildings
WASHINGTON DC – Little animates people in Washington more than the fate of their local American Football team. And nothing seems to animate Donald Trump more than his personal mission to get his name emblazoned on as much stuff as possible.
This weekend, those two facts came crashing together in a bruising, potentially explosive collision.
Sports network ESPN reported on Saturday that – according to multiple sources – Trump wants the Washington Commanders’ new $3.7bn stadium to be named after him.
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Like US discussions with Iran or North Korea, the President’s desire was apparently channelled via third parties, with a series of “back-channel communications” between Trump and the NFL team’s owners.
Asked to respond, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not even attempt to maintain official silence on the matter. “That would surely be a beautiful name,” she mused, coyly. “It was President Trump who made the rebuilding of the new stadium possible,” she added.
The Commanders’ fate has been a non-stop soap opera going back years, and Trump has played a part in that.
The team was formerly known as the Washington Redskins, dating back to the 30s. But amidst growing protests by Native American communities and others, the name was abandoned in 2020. The next year, they were known simply and ludicrously as “The Washington Football Team”, until being officially rebranded as the Commanders in 2022, much to Trump’s displeasure.
FILE PHOTO: An employee passes Washington Redskins football shirts for sale at a sporting goods store in Bailey's Crossroads, Virginia, U.S., June 24, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
Redskins football shirts for sale in 2020 (Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
This summer, Trump, who insists the name reeks of left-wing wokery, threatened to block the construction of the new stadium unless the Redskins name was revived. “The times are different now than they were three or four years ago”, he said on social media. “OWNERS, GET IT DONE”, he demanded.
Now it seems that putting Trump’s name on the stadium might be the price they have to pay in order to avoid re-litigating the row over the team’s actual name. (The owners have refused to comment.)
Some were quick to make it clear that the President’s name on the stadium would not prevent the owners from also selling naming rights – a vastly lucrative proposition – to a corporate sponsor. Presumably that would mean Trump at least sharing the bill with, say, a major crypto currency firm or AI tech giant. The Commanders might soon be playing at “OpenAI Field at the Trump Stadium”, or something to that effect.
Veteran Washingtonians remember the uproar when proposals were first made to rename National Airport after President Ronald Reagan. To this day, diehard Democrats still refuse to refer to “Reagan National” – the airport’s official name since 1998 – and zealously cling to its former title.
Back then, Reagan was considered to be the most right-wing president that Americans would ever countenance, and he never asked for the airport to be named after him.
Today, Trump barely conceals his desire to see his name forever attached to a wide array of complexes, along with his hope that one day his image will be etched on Mount Rushmore (legislation has already been introduced in the House of Representatives by one of his most ardent supporters).
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 20: The facade of the East Wing of the White House is demolished by work crews on October 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. The demolition is part of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to build a ballroom reportedly costing $250 million on the eastern side of the White House. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The facade of the East Wing of the White House being demolished to make way for Donald Trump’s ballroom (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty)
There is also widespread speculation that Trump wants his name attached to the 90,000 sq ft ballroom now being built at the White House, in place of the torn-down East Wing.
Then there is the so-called “Arc de Trump” which he plans to construct opposite the Lincoln Memorial, a triumphalist arch that is designed to commemorate America’s 250th birthday next year.
Trump has also repeatedly referred to Washington’s storied John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts as “the Trump/Kennedy Centre”.
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That cheeky reference appears to belie a serious intent to attach his name to a venue that, since its 1971 opening in honour of the assassinated American president, has been the nation’s pre-eminent house of culture.
There is also a Kennedy connection to the Commanders’ new stadium. It will be built on the site of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, which served as the Redskins’ home in Washington until its decommissioning in 2019.
The idea that Trump’s name may flash in lights atop a site once named after RFK – President John F. Kennedy’s progressive, left-wing brother who was assassinated while seeking the presidency in 1968 – will no doubt appeal even more to the current President’s limitless sense of vanity.