Kayleigh McEnany tried to validate Donald Trump’s ridiculous claim that Native Americans would be “very angry” over the Washington Redskins’ planned name change.
As you probably know by now, the NFL’s Washington Redskins announced it will “retire” the name today.
During her “press briefing,” when McEnany was asked for Trump’s reaction to the decision, she brought up Trump’s claim and then tried to back it up.
MCENANY: He says that he believes that the Native American community would be very angry at this and he does have polling to back him up.
There was a Washington Post poll, um, from a few years ago that 90% of Native Americans say they’re not offended by the name. It is reflective of a 2004 poll and 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.” Gabriel Nez, another 29 year-old from the Navajo community [which she mispronounced]: I really don’t mind it. I like it. And there are several other comments like this in The Washington Post.
McEnany is right about The Washington Post article, though who knows if the results would be the same four years later?
More to the point, the poll did not find that Native Americans want the name kept. That question wasn't even asked. The poll found that 90% of Native Americans were not offended by the name but 77% thought the issue unimportant.
According to the Fox video below, McEnany’s remarks about the Redskins occurred at 1:40 PM ET.
But hours earlier, the Navajo Nation put out a statement celebrating the retirement of the “racist and disparaging” name. "Over a dozen Native leaders and organizations wrote to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell last week demanding an immediate end to Washington’s use of the name," Arizona Sports reported.
But yeah, I’m sure Trump and McEnany have their fingers right on the pulses of Native Americans on the subject.
Probably what’s most surprising is that Fox clipped that comment and posted it online with the headline, “White House: Native American community would be angry at Redskins name change.” Either this is another example of someone in the “news” division going rogue or else Fox thinks its 87% white viewers are dumb enough to believe it.
You can watch it below, from Fox News’ coverage of the White House July 13, 2020 press briefing.