Donald Trump sparks backlash over trans weightlifter impression that Melania ‘hates’
The remarks were made at the House GOP member retreat yesterday and were later shared online by the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account
By Callum Wells
Donald Trump has sparked backlash after acting out an impression of a transgender weightlifter during a Republican leadership retreat in Washington.
The remarks were made at the House GOP member retreat yesterday (6 January) and were later shared online by the White House’s Rapid Response 47 account, writing: “@POTUS on his imitation of ‘trans athletes’ in women’s sports: ‘My wife HATES when I do this.’”
Addressing party officials, Trump said that first lady Melania Trump disapproves of his impressions, recalling a comment she made about former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Clips of the performance circulated widely on social media, prompting mixed reactions
“She actually said, ‘Could you imagine FDR dancing?’” Trump said, referencing Roosevelt, who was paralysed below the waist.
Trump went on to claim that the first lady thinks “the weightlifting is terrible” before launching into a routine in which he mimed struggling with weights, grunting and gesturing theatrically.
“Drops the thing, walks off the stage crying. Her mother’s crying, her father’s crying,” he said as he acted out the scenario.
He then contrasted the impression by mimicking an athlete who he suggested could lift the same weights with ease, adding: “Guy gets up. He said, ‘Have you lifted before?’ ‘A little bit.’ And he walks up, ‘bing.’ He could’ve gone ‘ding, ding.’”
Clips of the performance circulated widely on social media, prompting mixed reactions.
In May, president Donald Trump performed a comparable routine while speaking at the University of Alabama
During the same speech, Trump also claimed that “two transitioned people” had won Olympic gold medals in boxing. CNN’s Fact Check later reported that he was likely referring to Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, both of whom were identified as female at birth and competed as women.
The president has previously made similar remarks. In May, he performed a comparable routine while speaking at the University of Alabama.
“Then a guy comes along, or a gal, or whatever. A transitioned person comes along, and he was a failed weightlifter as a man, but he comes along, 206 pounds…and he breaks the record,” Trump said at the time.
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