RSBN, Amy Sussman/FilmMagic
- Trump, during a speech at a rally in Arizona, speculated that LeBron James might get sex reassignment surgery.
- He suggested that the basketball player could "get the operation" to compete in women's sports.
- James identifies as male and has never publicly expressed a desire to transition.
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During a rambling two-hour speech in Phoenix, Arizona, on Saturday night, former President Donald Trump bizarrely mused about how basketball player LeBron James could get sex reassignment surgery.
Trump speculated that the Los Angeles Lakers star could "get the operation" in order to compete in women's sports, he said while speaking at the "Rally to Protect Our Elections."
-Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) July 25, 2021
The former president joked that, as the coach of a women's sports team, he would only recruit transgender athletes. "If I were a coach, I wouldn't be talking to too many women as we know women," he said. "I'd be getting some of these people that … they're 'women.'"
Trump then suggested that James might eventually choose to transition. "Somebody said that if LeBron James ever decided to get the operation, how would he be on the court? How would he be?" he mused.
James identifies as male and has never publicly expressed a desire to undergo gender confirmation surgery.
"LeBron James, you can have him," Trump continued before further mocking the basketball player. "Did you see the basketball ratings that were terrible? They went up after his team was defeated."
This isn't the first time that the former president has taken aim at James. Trump called him "racist" and "divisive" after the Los Angeles Lakers star tweeted a response to the police killing of Ohio teenager Ma'Khia Bryant in April.