Trump claims Native American community will be ‘angry at this’

The White House on Monday doubled down on criticism of the Washington Redskins for retiring their name and logo, citing a news report that found the majority of Native Americans were not offended by it.

At a briefing, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said President Trump last week ripped the anticipated decision by the NFL team to change its name after backlash from corporate sponsors and decades of controversy because Native Americans would be made “very angry” by the decision.

“His tweet made it clear that these teams named their teams out of strength, not weakness, and he talked about the Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians looking at changing their names,” McEnany told reporters.

“He says that he believes the Native American community would be very angry at this and he does have polling to back him up,” she continued.

In a tweet on July 6, the president suggested the expected name change was a result of the NFL team trying to be “politically correct” and took a swipe at Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who in the past claimed she was part Native American and has since apologized.

“Indians, like Elizabeth

Warren, must be very angry right now!” he wrote.

McEnany cited a Washington Post poll from 2016 that found nine in 10

Native Americans weren’t offended by the

NFL team’s controversial and now former name.

“The Washington Post notes that many of these Native Americans voiced admiration for the team name like Barbara Bruce who said, ‘I’m proud of being Native American and of the Redskins. I’m not ashamed of that at all. I like that name.’ ”