US President Donald Trump has once again come under fire for mocking transgender athletes during a rambling speech at the House GOP’s annual retreat on 6 January, in which he also falsely referenced Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif as transgender.
Speaking to Republican lawmakers, Trump performed a grotesque impression of a weightlifting competition, mimicking both a cisgender woman and a transgender woman athlete in a way that critics have labelled “demeaning” and “embarrassing.”
“Drops the thing, walks off the stage crying. Her mother’s crying, her father’s crying,” Trump said while impersonating a woman struggling to lift weights.
He then launched into a caricature of a trans woman competing in the same event:
“Guy gets up. He said, ‘Have you lifted before?’ ‘A little bit.’ And he walks up, ‘bing’… He could’ve gone ‘ding, ding’.”
Trump continued, calling the scenario “crazy” before moving into a now-familiar talking point: falsely claiming that Imane Khelif, an Olympic athlete who has publicly affirmed she is not transgender, had transitioned.
Trump has repeatedly referenced Khelif, despite her making clear statements affirming her gender identity as a cisgender woman.
During his speech, Trump described Khelif as a “young gentleman who transitioned,” before backpedalling slightly:
“Which, y’know – to each his own. I want to be very liberal about this, I’m trying to get that vote, it’s not an easy vote to get.”
He inaccurately...
Popular YouTuber and Twitch streamer Asmongold has strongly denied viral allegations calling him a pedophile after a misleading post spread rapidly on X (formerly Twitter). The streamer has now sa...