Stephen A. Smith suggests Donald Trump’s behavior allowed Dan Snyder to ‘hold on to the Redskins name’

The Redskins name might have been changed long ago if not for the behavior of President Donald Trump, at least that is according to ESPN's Stephen A. Smith.

Speaking Monday morning on a number of topics, Smith explained that he believes how Trump uses language and social media to divide the nation, those practices embolden Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to hang on to the controversial Redskins name.

"I think about Daniel Snyder with the Washington Redskins and I say it's because of the behavior of our president that you have people like Daniel Snyder that's been able to hold on to the Redskins name for so long. Let's just call it what it is," Smith said on his show First Take.

Stephen A. Smith this morning on Redskins name. There's a lot here. pic.twitter.com/Mk1ks3HMF7
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS) July 6, 2020

The Redskins announced late last week that the organization would perform a "thorough review" of its team name. That decision came after corporate partner FedEx publicly requested a name change last Thursday, and Smith thinks that corporate pressure is pushing Snyder to change the name.

"With Daniel Snyder it was about the money," Smith said.

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Smith said that because of Trump's words and actions - specifically his recent tweet about NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace - allowed the Redskins organization to ignore the controversy surrounding the name.

"If you're a Daniel Snyder for example and you used the word never to talk about how you would never change the Redskins name back in 2013 and then again in 2014, it's easy if there's a whole bunch of other people out there that think like this president. 'You know what I can hold on to this because it's not going to affect my bottom line.'"

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