Trump claims he’s ‘in trouble’ with Melania after impersonating transgender athlete in bizarre speech
During a recent speech at the University of Alabama, former President Donald Trump made a controversial joke that he admitted might get him in trouble with his wife, Melania Trump. While talking about transgender athletes participating in women’s sports—specifically weightlifting—Trump did an impersonation that he said Melania doesn’t approve of. According to him, she thinks those kinds of jokes aren’t very “presidential,” but he said the crowd enjoys them anyway.
He told the audience a story about two weightlifters. One was a woman who struggled to lift the weights, and the other was a transgender person—someone who had previously competed as a man but transitioned—who easily lifted the weights and broke a record. Trump said the person had been a failed weightlifter as a man but suddenly succeeded in the women’s category, which he argued was unfair. His tone suggested he didn’t take the issue seriously, and his impersonation drew laughs from some, but criticism from others.
Trump admitted he expected Melania to be upset about the impersonation when he got home, joking that he had been in trouble before and would be again.
At the same time, his administration has been taking real action on transgender athlete policies. The U.S. Department of Education recently accused the University of Pennsylvania of breaking civil rights laws by allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. They warned the university that if it didn’t make changes within 10 days, it could face legal action and possibly lose federal funding.
A government official, Craig Trainor, said that young girls who admire female athletes like Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan should feel supported by the administration’s actions. He argued that letting transgender women compete in female categories goes against Title IX, a law meant to protect women’s rights in education and sports.
Trump also recently signed an executive order that officially recognizes only two genders: male and female. The order says that replacing biological sex with gender identity in laws and policies weakens protections for women and girls. According to the order, this change could damage long-standing rights that were designed specifically to ensure equal opportunities based on sex.
In short, Trump made a controversial joke during his speech, knowing it might upset Melania and others. But beyond the joke, his administration is taking a firm stance against allowing transgender athletes in women’s sports and is pushing policies that define gender strictly as male or female.
