Donald Trump tosses hats to supporters at the rally Waukesha, Wisconsin. (Getty/ Scott Olson)
Donald Trump repeatedly misgendered swimmer Lia Thomas in pathetic rant about trans athletes, promising to ban trans women from sports.
Trump made the comments at a “Save America” rally in Waukesha, Wisconsin on Friday (5 August), where he pushed the Republican candidates in the state that he has endorsed for November’s midterm elections.
The former president used much of his rambling speech to repeat false claims of 2020 election fraud, before moving on to one of his favourite subjects – trans athletes.
As the crowd of Trump supporters cheered, he declared: “We will keep men out of women’s sports.”
He went on to tell the story of a “young female swimmer who wanted to to break the United States record in some kind of event”, but who sees a “giant person” she must compete against.
But the athlete, Trump said, ended up being “badly injured in the race” because “he went by her so fast she got tremendous wind burn”.
He did not name the female swimmer, nor give any detail which would provide the story to be true.
Referencing trans swimmer Lia Thomas, Trump said: “He was just given female athlete of the year by the way.”
To be clear, Thomas was nominated for National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)’s Woman of the Year award, after making history as the first trans woman to win an NCAA swimming championship. The winner of the award has not yet been announced.
But Trump ploughed on: “Is this country going to hell, or what?”
He also hit out at LGBTQ+ education, telling the crowd: “No teacher should ever be allowed to teach transgender to our children without parental consent.
“What they’re doing to your children essentially behind your back is crazy.”
Donald Trump previously claimed that Lia Thomas has a 30-foot wingspan
Last month, Donald Trump again spread misinformation about Lia Thomas in a speech at the first annual summit of the America First Policy Institute, a right-wing Republican non-profit, on Tuesday (26 July).
After telling the same story about the mysterious swimmer given “wind burn” by a trans athlete, he misgendered Thomas again and confusingly claimed that she had a “wingspan of 30 feet”.
For content, this would mean that each of her arms was the length of a giraffe.