"My Wife Hates When I Do This": Trump Imitates Trans Athletes

US President Donald Trump has drawn criticism after imitating transgender athletes during a speech to House Republican members. The clip was shared on X by the Trump administration's Rapid Response 47 handle.

Trump made the remarks while addressing a House GOP member retreat at the Kennedy Center in Washington. In the clip that has since gone viral, the US President is seen pretending to lift weights while grimacing, mimicking what he described as a female weightlifter competing against a transgender rival.

During the imitation, Trump told the audience that he had deliberately restrained himself, saying his wife disapproved of the act. “My wife hates when I do this,” Trump said, adding, “She's a very classy person. She said, ‘It's so unpresidential.' But I said, ‘I did become president.'”

The Trump administration's Rapid Response 47 account captioned the clip, “POTUS on his imitation of ‘trans athletes' in women's sports: ‘My wife hates when I do this'.”

.@POTUS on his imitation of "trans athletes" in women's sports: "My wife HATES when I do this."

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— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 6, 2026

The video led to backlash online, with many users criticising Trump for mocking transgender people and trivialising a sensitive issue.

“A man in poorly blended orange makeup making fun of trans people is peak irony,” wrote one user.

Another commented, “The joke is on Americans,” adding that the American people elected a “joker,” using an emoticon in place of the word.

One post stated, “Trump's imitation of ‘trans athletes' in women's sports says everything: no facts, no nuance, just ridicule aimed at a vulnerable group for cheap laughs.”

Others questioned the President's priorities. “Trump is giving a speech at a Republican event in Washington. He's mimicking women weightlifting & talking about transitioning women boxing. Hasn't he something more important to do or talk about? It's time to use the 25th Amendment,” wrote one user.

Another reaction read, “What bizarre dimension have we slipped into? This is so embarrassing.”

Trump also claimed during his remarks that “two transitioned people” had won gold medals in boxing. A CNN Fact Check reported that he was likely referring to Olympic gold medallists Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting, both of whom were identified as female at birth and competed in the women's category.

This is not the first time Trump has mocked transgender athletes in public. In May 2025, he delivered a similar impression while speaking at the University of Alabama. He had said then, “Then a guy comes along or a gal or whatever,” Trump said, adding, “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'.”

According to a report in The Independent, over the past year, the Trump administration has taken steps to scale back protections for transgender and intersex people at the federal level. The report added that the administration has moved to bar transgender people from serving in the military, a policy the Supreme Court allowed to be enforced while legal challenges continue, and has also sought to prevent people from selecting a sex marker on passports that matches their gender identity.