- In his DC speech on Tuesday, Trump marveled at the response he received to a transphobic remark.
- He said his consultants had told him to keep clear of the "very controversial" topic.
- Trump then went on a lengthy, baseless tirade against trans athletes, which he said was unplanned.
Former President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his political consultants have advised him to veer away from criticizing transgender athletes.
About 45 minutes into his speech at the America First Agenda Summit in Washington, DC, Trump remarked: "By the way, we should not allow men to play in women's sports."
The comment received raucous applause, which led the former president to pause his speech for close to 20 seconds to take in the audience's reaction with a smile.
"So crazy. It just shows you what all of these political geniuses— I have all of these consultants, all these great, great — 'Sir, don't say that, it's very controversial,'" he said.
He then said that his comment had not been "written down anywhere."
"I just said it, thought it might be a good time," Trump quipped, adding that the comment had earned him the "biggest hand" of the evening.
Trump then launched into a lengthy, baseless tirade about trans athletes. While not calling them out by name, he appeared to reference the experiences of University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Olympic weightlifter Laural Hubbard.
Thomas, for one, has been a lightning rod for criticism from the right. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Vice President Mike Pence are among the many conservative voices who have refused to recognize the trans swimmer's win at an NCAA swimming tournament in March.
During his Tuesday speech, Trump also mocked trans weightlifters when he pretended to struggle to lift weights while onstage.
His transphobic comments came less than a week after he made the bizarre claim that Lebron James could get sex reassignment surgery to play in women's sports during a rally in Arizona.
Trans athletes are allowed to compete in the Olympics. After the 2022 Beijing Games, the International Olympic Committee adopted a nonbinding framework encouraging Olympic sports to include trans athletes in competitions.
In the US, however, trans girls have been facing bans from girls' sports in at least 10 states, per The New York Times. Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma are among the states that have moved to enact legislation to prevent trans girls and women from competing in female sports.
The National Center for Transgender Equality has also outlined a list of anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ actions that the Trump administration took between his inauguration day and July 2020. This included rolling back regulations to protect trans people from health care discrimination and restricting trans people's access to homeless shelters.