‘It’s not presidential’: Trump jokes he’s ‘in trouble’ with wife Melania as he mocks transgender athlete | Trending

US President Donald Trump sparked fresh controversy Thursday night during his commencement address at the University of Alabama, where he impersonated a transgender athlete while criticising policies that allow them to compete in women’s sports.

Speaking to a packed crowd at Coleman Coliseum, the President mocked the inclusion of transgender women in female athletic competitions and joked about how such remarks tend to get him “in trouble” with First Lady Melania Trump.

Also read: Trump mocking Pope Francis’ death? POTUS posts AI image in papal attire

“The greatest is like weightlifting, you ever see the weightlifting? Where they have a record that wasn’t broken in 18 years,” Trump began, setting up a scenario involving a female athlete and a transgender competitor. Before launching into the impression, he asked the audience whether he should go ahead with it despite his wife’s disapproval.

“Should I imitate him? My wife gets very upset when I do this. She says, ‘Darling, it’s not presidential,’ I say, ‘Yeah, but people like it,’” Trump said.

He continued by asking the crowd again if he should proceed.

“All right, I’m in trouble when I get home, but that’s OK, what the hell. I’ve been in lots of trouble before,” he joked.

What followed was a dramatised scenario in which a female weightlifter fails to lift a minimal amount of weight, only to be outperformed by a “transitioned person.”

“Mom, I’m gonna do it,” Trump said, mimicking high-pitched noises and acting out the lifting motion on stage.

Take a look at the video:

“Then a guy comes along or a gal or whatever,” Trump said. “A transitioned person and he was a failed weightlifter as a male, but he comes along 206 pounds, they put the little thing on and just ‘boom, boom, boom.’”

He concluded the bit by saying the transgender athlete would break the record by “119 pounds,” before adding, “That’s not right.”

The address came just days after the Trump administration made headlines for declaring that the University of Pennsylvania violated federal civil rights laws by allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s sports. The Department of Education determined that the Ivy League institution broke Title IX guidelines by denying equal opportunities to women.

UPenn has been given 10 days to resolve the violations voluntarily or face potential legal action by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

“Little girls who look up to Riley Gaines and Paula Scanlan can find hope in today’s action — the Trump Administration will not allow male athletes to invade female private spaces or compete in female categories,” said Craig Trainor, the Education Department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights.

“UPenn has a choice to make: do the right thing for its female students and come into full compliance with Title IX immediately or continue to advance an extremist political project that violates federal antidiscrimination law and puts UPenn’s federal funding at risk,” Trainor added.

Also read: ‘I truly love you’: Florida teacher accused of writing disturbing love letter to 11-year-old student