Donald Trump promised to implement a nationwide ban on trans athletes should he ever be re-elected as president.
Trump, who in 2020 became the first incumbent president to lose re-election since George H.W. Bush in 1992, gave a speech in Conroe, Texas on 29 January.
“We will ban men from participating in women’s sports,” he said during the rally. “So ridiculous.”
He went on to comment on Lia Thomas, a transgender swimmer on the women’s team at the University of Pennsylvania who previously spent three years competing on the men’s team.
Misgendering the athlete, he added: “Have you heard about the man who is on the swim team that I know well?”
The 75-year-old then took aim at athlete Laurel Hubbard who recently made history as the first openly transgender athlete to compete at an Olympic Games.
“But the best is the weightlifting records – they’re going,” he explained. “One guy walks in with one hand [and] he broke the record that [was] held up for 20 years.”
Trump was President of the United States from 2017 to 2021 when he was defeated by President Joe Biden by 306 to 232 electoral votes.
His departure from office is remembered for his refusal to concede and accept the results of the vote.
The former host of The Apprentice made false claims of electoral fraud and even urged those supporting him to march to the Capitol – something that was later heavily linked to the events of 6 January 2021 when a vast number of them attacked the building.
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