President Donald Trump mocked both cisgender and transgender women while discussing transgender athletes during a speech to manufacturing workers at a Mack Trucks facility in Pennsylvania. Trump criticized transgender women competing in women’s sports, calling the issue “99-1” politically. He also claimed first lady Melania Trump had urged him not to perform his weightlifting routine.
Trump first described a fictional woman attempting to break a weightlifting record, saying, “This young lady, she’s trying out for the Olympics,” before acting out her struggling to lift the barbell. He then contrasted that scenario with a fictional transgender woman, saying, “Then a guy comes along who transitioned,” and portrayed the athlete as easily lifting the weight before declaring, “Men should not be able to participate in women’s sports.”
The scenario Trump described does not reflect Olympic competition. No transgender woman has won an Olympic medal. New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard became the first openly transgender woman to compete at the Olympics in 2021 but did not complete a successful lift or win a medal. Beginning with the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, transgender women will be barred from competing in women’s Olympic events under a policy announced by the International Olympic Committee in March.
