Donald Trump says his transphobic lies always get biggest applause at his rallies

Former President Donald Trump repeatedly lied while attacking transgender athletes and trans-inclusive school policies during his recent campaign speech in Tuscon, Arizona. He also expressed surprise at how his transphobic attacks always get the most audience applause.

“We will keep critical race theory and transgender insanity out of our school,” he said. “It’s amazing. It’s insane. You know that always gets the biggest applause. It’s like a poll. You’re like a pollster. You’re like a free poll, I must say.”

Related:

The GOP’s proposed national platform is extremely transphobic

It also promises to protect Christians who discriminate against LGBTQ+ people.

“Can you imagine: Your child goes to school and they don’t even call you and they change the sex of your child,” he continued, repeating a lie he has often said.

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Gender-affirming surgery is almost never performed on minors, and genital surgeries as part of a transition are never performed on minors. Schools are neither conducting surgeries on children nor forcing them to transition. Trump’s campaign has said that it knows of no instance of this ever happening. Trump is lying.

Trump then said, “Another one that gets a big hand and it’s crazy: We will keep men out of women sports. How simple is that?”

Crude transphobia remains one of the biggest applause lines during Trump's speeches. In this clip, even Trump acknowledges he's surprised by how much his fans love it. pic.twitter.com/J80Z3LNRqx

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 12, 2024

He then told numerous lies about Olympic athletes and transgender ones. He claimed that at the recent Olympic Summer Games, a “beautiful young woman from Italy … was fighting against a man who transitioned.” He was referring to Imane Khelif of Algeria, a cisgender boxer who was assigned female at birth and identifies as a woman.

Trump and numerous right-wingers’ lies about her gender—which originated from a transphobic Russian boxing association—inspired widespread harassment and threats against her, compelling her to file a legal complaint for cyber harassment.

He then referenced Laurel Hubbard, the female weightlifter who made history as the first out trans competitor in an individual Olympic sport. Hubbard didn’t win after judges declared that she hadn’t held the barbell steadily enough above her head. Trump noted this, saying, “She couldn’t get it up.”

He also imitated a weightlifting official greeting Hubbard, saying, “Oh, good luck, sir. I mean, ma’am.”

He then referenced trans collegiate swimmer Lia Thomas, claiming that she broke an Olympic women’s swimming record. His claim is incorrect: Thomas broke a women’s 500-meter record established at Harvard University’s Blodgett Pool in Boston by Kate Ziegler, a swimmer who later competed in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, but Thomas didn’t break a women’s Olympic record.

Trump said Thomas looked “Gigantic… like [7-foot 1-inch Black professional basketball player] Wilt ‘the Stilt’ Chamberlain on steroids.” He then lied, claiming that one of Thomas’ competitors was “seriously injured” by a “massive wind burn” caused by Thomas swimming past her in the pool.

“He won by a lot,” Trump said, misgendering Thomas. “In fact, he was having lunch while the other young ladies were recovering. He was enjoying a nice lunch as the rest of them were swimming. How demeaning to women, right? Demeaning. How ridiculous.”

Trump is running on an extremely transphobic platform

Trump has pledged to repeal all protections for trans students “on day one” if re-elected. He has also pledged to stop all gender-affirming care for minors nationwide.

If re-elected, Trump is expected to follow Project 2025, a blueprint developed by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Project 2025 calls for Trump to reinstate his transgender military ban; end educational, workplace, and healthcare protections for transgender people; and instruct Congress to define gender as male and female and fixed at birth. The plan would end all acknowledgment of trans people and gender identity.

Elsewhere in his Tuscon speech, Trump claimed he won a “monumental victory” against “Comrade Kamala” in Tuesday’s debate, and called the debate co-moderators “nasty” “low-lives” who should be fired for fact-checking his lies during the event. Numerous media figures, viewer polls, and Republicans have commented that Trump lost the debate.

During his Tuscon address, Trump also bragged once more that he was endorsed by anti-LGBTQ+ Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, a anti-democratic leader considered a dictator by former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and others.

He also said he will address the nation’s housing crisis by requiring all property owners recieving federal funds to refuse to rent to undocumented immigrants. He also repeated his racist lie that immigrants are eating people’s housepets. This lie has lead to bomb threats against government buildings, school closures, and increased harassment of immigrants.

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