Former President Donald Trump promised to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports if he is reelected to the White House in 2024.
Trump made the comments during a long, meandering speech before throngs of followers and conservative activists in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday night in one of what is expected to be a series of political rallies intended to gauge support for a future White House run.
In his speech, Trump made several promises offering so-called “red meat” to Republican base voters on various hot-button issues, promising to undo some of President Joe Biden’s executive orders, ban critical race theory in schools and workplaces, pardon those accused of taking part in the Capitol riot, and build a border wall and deport undocumented immigrants, all while ranting about how he was cheated out of a second term due to alleged — yet unproven — electoral fraud.
But there was a significant cheer from those in attendance after Trump promised to “ban men from participating in women’s sports,” adding that the concept was “[s]o ridiculous.”
Without mentioning her by name, Trump referenced University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and her recent successes in the pool, deliberately misgendering her and at times exaggerating how well she has been performing. For example, Trump did not mention that Thomas recently lost a few shorter-distance events in a dual meet against Yale and Dartmouth. In one of those races, Thomas placed sixth, behind four other cisgender females and winner Iszac Henig, a trans male not currently on hormones — whom Trump and his followers would ostensibly misgender as a “woman.”
“Did you see the man who is on the swimming team at a certain school that I know well?” Trump, a graduate of U Penn’s Wharton School of Business, said.
“The record held for like 11 years, he beat it by 38 seconds,” he added, referring to times Thomas posted at an invitational earlier in the season that beat the standing Ivy League record for the 1,650-yard freestyle.
Trump then went off on a tangent that appeared to attack New Zealand transgender weightlifter Laurel Hubbard — again, not specifically mentioning her name — for competing in the Olympics, claiming she was doing deadlifts with only one hand and breaking longstanding records. Yet at the Olympics, Hubbard ended up placing last among all competitors in the +87-kilogram group after failing three times to snatch-lift 125 kilograms.
“But the best is the weightlifting records — they’re going,” Trump said. “One guy walks in with one hand [and] he broke the record that held up for 20 years. … Take a look at the weightlifting records. Two ounces is unacceptable. They beat ’em by many, many, many, many, many, many pounds.”
Yet Trump’s rhetoric on trans athletes will likely play well among Republican voters, who overwhelmingly oppose the idea of allowing transgender people to compete in sports based on their gender identity, according to polling.
Many Republican-led states have proposed or passed bills to bar transgender females from competing in women’s sports, including, most recently, South Dakota, where Gov. Kristi Noem (R) has attempted to use the issue to elevate her national profile ahead of what some political observers believe may be an attempt at a 2024 presidential run.
"I was really into politics at a very young age," says Tim Miller, host of The Bulwark Podcast and an MSNBC political analyst. "I can't remember what they were called, but you'd get those kid magazines about politics that would come to your school, and I remember always really being drawn to them, and reading them and wanting to know more. I always knew lots of weird facts about politics and geography as a little middle school nerd."
Raised in St. Louis until fourth grade, when his family relocated to Littleton, Colorado, Miller became enmeshed in conservative politics at a young age, taking various campaign jobs throughout his career as a former Republican strategist. He jokes that his success at handicapping political races dates back to the 1992 election, when he won a $1 wager after betting his grandmother that then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton would unseat sitting president George H.W. Bush.
Justice Department had demanded Boston Children's Hospital hand over patients' and employees' personal information under the guise of combating medical "fraud."
A federal judge has quashed a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice demanding that Boston Children’s Hospital turn over private medical information on youth receiving gender-affirming care, blasting the request as a “fishing expedition” aimed at prosecuting doctors under the guise of investigating health care fraud.
In his ruling, Judge Myong Joun, a Biden appointee, said the Justice Department sought an “astonishingly broad array of documents and information that are virtually unlimited in scope,” including patients’ Social Security numbers, home addresses, and personal details, as well as the complete personnel files of all 2,000 Boston Children’s Hospital employees, regardless of whether they had any involvement in providing gender-affirming care to minors.
The U.S. Air Force has issued new guidance, in two memos signed by interim assistant secretary for manpower and reserve affairs Brian Scarlett, detailing how transgender Airmen and Guardians will be involuntarily separated -- and denying them any chance to contest the decision.
Citing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's memo announcing compliance with President Donald Trump's executive order seeking to ban transgender service members, an Aug. 12 memo states that any Airman or Guardian with a diagnosis, history, or symptoms consistent with gender dysphoria will be denied a waiver and involuntarily separated.
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