Former President Donald Trump called on NBA star LeBron James to identify as a woman and dominate women’s basketball Tuesday.
The former president lamented UPenn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male, for dominating and beating out the female competitors at the NCAA Women’s Championships in March. The topic of biological men competing in women’s sports led Trump to repeat his mockery of James.
“I’d be the greatest women’s basketball coach in history,” Trump said. “Because I don’t like LeBron James, I like Michael Jordan much better. I’d go up to LeBron James and say ‘LeBron, did you ever have any desire to be a woman? Because what I’d love you to do is star on my team that I’m building up. I will have the greatest team in history, they will never lose, nobody will come within 70 points of this team.”
“We have to change that and we have to make it okay to talk about it,” he said, referencing fairness in women’s sports. “The young lady I was talking about is afraid to talk about. She’s shunned and she’s canceled when she talks about it. This is crazy.”
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Trump’s mockery of James competing as a hypothetical transgender woman originated in July, 2021, at a “Protect Our Elections” rally in Arizona.
“Somebody said that if LeBron James ever decided to get the operation, how would he be on the court?” he said. “I’ll be honest though, look, we all like to win. If I were a coach, I tell you, I wouldn’t be talking to too many women as we know women, I’d be getting some of these people that … they’re women.” (RELATED: Trump Suggests LeBron James Should Go Dominate The WNBA At Rally)
The former president called on the NBA star to dominate the Women’s National Basketball Team (WNBA) during a May rally in Greenwood, Nebraska.
“I’ll say this to LeBron James, who I don’t like very much,” the former president said at a Greenwood, Nebraska, rally. “LeBron, did you ever have thoughts about going woman? Because, if you did, I’d love to have you on my basketball team.”
Eighteen states, including Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Utah, have passed statewide bans on biological men competing in women’s sports. FINA, the governing body for international swimming, banned nearly all biological males from a women’s competition, only permitting male athletes who have transitioned and experienced no puberty symptoms by age 12.