During his more than 80-minute-long rally speech in Texas, former President Donald Trump took a moment to address the growing national debate around transgender athletes.
Trump assured his supporters that Republicans will put an end to transgender athletes competing against biologically born women in sports.
“We will ban men from participating in women’s sports,” Trump defiantly declared. “So ridiculous.”
Trump’s declaration comes as transgender athlete Lia Thomas has been destroying women’s swimming records at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas previously competed on the UPenn men’s swimming team until 2019.
“Did you see the man that was on a swimming team at a certain school that I know very well? The record held for like 11 years, he beat it by 38 seconds!” Trump ranted. “But the best is the weightlifting records – they’re going. One guy walks in with one hand…he broke the record that held up for 20 years. For 20 years they’re putting a little half an ounce on each side of the weights and the women are working so hard.”
“Take a look at the weightlifting records!” Trump implored his supporters. “You wanna see some real – think of it, two ounces in unacceptable, they beat ’em by many, many, many, many, many, many pounds.”
Trump’s bit drew laughter from the crowd. But Saturday night was not the first time he spoke out against transgender athletes, with the
Despite national outrage surrounding Thomas competing against women in swimming, UPenn continues to be supportive as she plans to participate in the NCAA championships, set to take place in March. The NCAA recently updated its transgender eligibility protocols, requiring schools to provide lab results showing athletes’ testosterone levels.
Watch above via Newsmax