'My Wife Hates When I Do This': Trump Mocks Trans Athletes In Women's Sports

Last Updated:January 07, 2026, 17:55 IST

US President Donald Trump performed an exaggerated imitation to criticise the inclusion of trans athletes in female sports categories – a move he claimed to be "demeaning to women"

President Donald Trump speaks to House Republican lawmakers during their annual policy retreat, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Donald Trump has received massive online backlash for mocking transgender athletes during his speech to Republican members of the US House of Representatives.

Addressing a GOP member retreat at the Kennedy Center, Trump performed an exaggerated imitation to criticise the inclusion of transgender women in female sports categories – a move he claimed to be “demeaning to women".

His theatrics involved a caricature of a female weightlifter who “drops the thing" and “walks off the stage crying", only to be followed by a transgender competitor who is lifting the same weight with total ease. He mimicked the trans athlete saying: “He walks up, ‘bing’. He could’ve gone ‘ding, ding,’", while gesturing that the weights were lifted with no effort at all. 

Watch the video here:

Trump specifically mentioned a scenario where a lift of 112 pounds caused distress to a female athlete and her parents. He claimed that “two transitioned people" had won gold medals in boxing at the Paris Games – a statement that fact-checkers identified as likely referring to Algerian boxer Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting from Taiwan, both of whom were identified as female at birth.

During the routine, the US President admitted that his wife Melania Trump, however, does not like these “performances" and calls them “unpresidential".

“My wife hates when I do this," Trump told the audience, adding that she considers such behaviour “unpresidential".

Despite her disapproval, he defended his actions stating: “But I said, ‘I did become president’".

While the display was praised by some, such as former swimmer Riley Gaines who called the impression “perfect", the internet was quick to condemn his actions. Critics on social media labelled the imitation as “peak irony" and “ridicule aimed at a vulnerable group for cheap laughs".

One internet user said: “What bizarre dimension have we slipped into? This is so embarrassing."

This is neither the first time that Trump has mocked transgender persons and nor is this “routine" a new one. In May 2025, he delivered a similar impression at the University of Alabama, where he mimicked a “failed weightlifter" breaking records.

Not only that, his administration has initiated various policies to scale back care for the transgender community, making its members vulnerable – he has moved to ban them from serving in the military and sought to prevent citizens from selecting sex markers on passports that match their gender identity.

According to the LGBTQ+ advocacy organisation GLAAD, there has been a documented rise in anti-LGBTQ hostility. Between May 2024 and May 2025, the group tracked 932 anti-LGBTQ incidents in the United States. Crucially, 52 percent of these attacks targeted transgender and gender non-conforming people, representing a 14 percent increase compared to the previous year.

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