During a campaign stop in Davenport, Iowa, former President Donald Trump joked about starting a women's basketball team with all men.
Trump spoke for just under an hour-and-a-half during which he discussed previous achievements, criticized the Biden administration, and proposed policies he would implement if he is re-elected in 2024.
Toward the end of his speech, the former President suggested he would be the "greatest [basketball] coach in history," noting he didn't care for Lakers player LeBron James but he would ask him to play on his team.
"I’d say 'Hey LeBron, you ever think of becoming a woman? Because you’re gonna be on my team. We’re gonna go undefeated for the next five years.'"
During the question and answer session, one audience member asked the former President what he could do to combat "transgender athletes taking over women's sports."
The former President noted Iowa previously passed legislation in 2022 mandating "only female students, based on their sex, may participate in any team, sport, or athletic event designated as being for females, women, or girls."
"It's crazy," Trump responded. "People are seriously in favor of having [biological men in women's sports]. And I don't understand it."
Prior to the question Trump had referenced a story about a competitive female swimmer who was forced to compete against a biological male identifying as a transgender woman.
"He's a monster," Trump said of the transgender identifying woman, suggesting the swimmer was as big as former basketball player Wilt Chamberlain. "The guy has a wingspan ... he broke all these records. It doesn't make sense."
"You would almost say ... it's people that want to hurt our country," he continued. "You've got [legislation passed] in Iowa, a lot of other states are doing it."
"Some states are going the opposite direction," Trump said. "We'll get it done throughout the country. It's gonna happen. It's just common sense."
The former President previously proposed a policy on outlawing medical gender transitions for minors.
"The left-wing gender insanity being pushed on our children is an act of child abuse," Trump said.
"On day one, I will revoke Joe Biden’s cruel policies on so-called 'gender affirming care,'" he said. "A process that includes giving kids puberty blockers, mutilating their physical appearance and ultimately performing surgery on minor children."
"They will also make clear that Title IX prohibits men from participating in women’s sports, and we will protect the rights of parents from being forced to allow their minor child to assume a gender which is 'new,' and an identity without their parent’s consent," Trump continued. "No serious country should be telling its children that they were born with the wrong gender."
"A concept that was never heard of in all of human history … It was all the radical left invented it just a few years ago," he concluded. “Under my leadership this madness will end."
