Trump wants Democrats to keep fighting for trans athletes in girls' sports: 'Don't think they can win a race'

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President Donald Trump mocked Democrats for their ongoing support of trans athletes in women's and girls' sports during Thursday's meeting with NATO leader Mark Rutte. Trump even suggested he hopes the party continues to push its stance on the issue to hurt their future election prospects. 

While criticizing Democrats for continuing their public arguments for supporting trans inclusion, Trump suggested 95% of Americans oppose it, and that Republicans should capitalize on their opponents' stance on the issue. 

"I saw this morning where one of them is pretty well known. One is arguing, fighting like crazy for men playing in women's sports. I think it's about a 95% issue, but in a way, I want [Democrats] to keep doing it, because I don't think they can win a race," Trump said. 

"I tell Republicans, 'Don't bring that subject up right now, because there's no election right now. But about a week before the election, bring it up, because we can't lose."

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It was the second day in a row that Trump mocked Democrats on the issue, after making similar comments during Wednesday's meeting with Ireland Prime Minister Micheál Martin. 

"Who would allow men to play in women's sports? And they're still fighting it, they're still  . . . . It's gotta be a 95% issue," Trump said. "But they're on television this morning, I see this person, a Democrat, say, 'We should have the right . . . no, no. Men should not be allowed - they're hurting women. They're hurting women. Very badly, they're hurting women. . . . And they're also demeaning women. But who would want these things? Everything is transgender. Everybody transgender. That's all you hear about. That's why we won the election in record numbers."

Trump's claim that it is a "95% issue" is not backed by data. However, there is data that at least the majority of Americans, including most Democrats, oppose trans inclusion in women's sports. 

A New York Times/Ipsos survey found the vast majority of Americans, including a majority of Democrats, don't think transgender athletes should be permitted to compete in women's sports, as 79% of participants said that biological males who identify as women should not be allowed in women's sports. Of the participants who identified as Democrats, 67% said that transgender athletes should not be allowed to compete with women. 

According to a Gallup poll last year, nearly 70% of Americans said that biological men should not be permitted to compete in women's sports.

Additional data suggests the issue affected the decisions of voters in the November election. 

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A national exit poll conducted by the Concerned Women for America legislative action committee found that 70% of moderate voters saw the issue of "Donald Trump's opposition to transgender boys and men playing girls' and women's sports and of transgender boys and men using girls' and women's bathrooms" as important to them. 

Additionally, 6% said it was the most important issue of all, while 44% said it was "very important."

Trump leveraged the issue and took a firm stance in banning trans athletes in women's and girls' sports as a key campaign issue in 2024. His campaign ad that featured the slogan "Kamala is for they/them, Donald Trump is for you" was hailed as the most effective ad of the election. 

Trump made good on his campaign promise to issue a ban when he signed the "Keeping Men out of Women's Sports" executive order on Feb. 5. However, many Democrat-run states have since defied the order and are still letting trans athletes compete with females. 

In response, Trump's administration has launched investigation against four of those states - California, Minnesota, Massachusetts and Maine - over potential Title IX violations for their continued defiance of the order. 

Trump's Department of Health and Human Services has already determined that Maine has violated Title IX, while the Department of Agriculture has already cut millions in funding to eight Maine universities. 

The Republican-controlled Congress attempted to set a stricter precedent for enforcing a national trans-athlete ban in women's sports with the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, but it was filibustered in the Senate after it received no support from Democrats. 

Conservative activist Riley Gaines has vowed to help Trump employ the strategy of using the issue against the Democrats who blocked the bill, as she has said she will work to help unseat every Democrat who voted against the bill in the 2026 midterms and 2028 election. 

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