Former President Donald Trump said he won’t stop making fun of transgender athletes at his rallies, despite his wife’s wishes that he would.
The former First Lady has certainly stayed off the campaign trail, but that hasn’t stopped her from voicing her opinion about Trump’s less than presidential behaviors.
The actions she doesn’t view as Oval Office worthy include mocking transgender athletes and dancing at rallies.
“Our first lady hates it when I do – she hates, she says, “Darling, I love you so much but this is not presidential. When you do the weightlifting. This is not presidential. Or when you do the swimming thing, it’s not,” he explained while grunting and mimicking a shoulder press.
Trump “dancing” at Mar-a-Lago pic.twitter.com/592a9XNgPE
— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@patriottakes) October 27, 2023
“You know and I understand,” he told the crowd at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa on Sunday. “‘Or when you dance off the stage.”
“She said, ‘Darling I love you, I love you, but this is not presidential, you don’t dance off the stage,'” Trump detailed.
“I said, ‘Look, look, we’ve got a year to go. Everybody loves us. I love everybody. The country’s going to hell in a handbasket. Let’s do a little dancing,'” he continued.
Despite acknowledging that Melania was “technically right,” the ex-president doesn’t want to change. “But what the hell,” he told the audience.
Trump has been dancing to Sam & Dave’s 1966 hit “Hold On, I’m Coming,” during his rallies this election, but was a fan using The Village People’s “YMCA” during his 2020 campaign.
He made the switch after the band sent him a cease-and-desist letter for using their songs earlier this year.
Surprised this isn’t banned in Florida. Trump dances poolside at Mar-a-Lago to performers dressed as The Village People. (Video: @MJisMAGA) pic.twitter.com/1UMzk00UrK
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) May 12, 2023
Karen Willis, the wife of lead singer Victor Willis, who acts as the 70s disco group’s manager, flipped out after Trump allowed Village People impersonators to put on an “unauthorized performance” at Mar-A-Lago in May.
She said that the group had been “inundated with social media posts,” after a video of Trump dancing to the imitator’s rendition of the band’s 1978 hit “Macho Man” went viral.
Willis claimed that fans “mistakenly” thought that the actual band was playing at the resort and believed that Trump had their endorsement, even though her husband had “tolerated” his use of their music in the past.
When Trump used their hits at rallies during his 2020 campaign, the band was certainly playing a different tune.
They told their Facebook followers that they had received their “numerous requests demanding” that they ban the 45th president from playing their songs, but noted he was “respectful” in his usage and had not “crossed a line.”
“Since our music is not being used for a specific endorsement, the President’s use is ‘perfect[ly]’ legal,” they wrote.
After Willis’ wife sent the campaign a legal threat, Trump attorney Joe Tacopina clapped back in a statement to TMZ.
“I will only deal with the attorney of the Village People, if they have one, not the wife of one of the members,” he commented.
“But they should be thankful that President Trump allowed them to get their name back in the press.”
“I haven’t heard their name in decades,” he dissed. “Glad to hear they are still around.”
Trump’s consistent commentary about transgender athletes comes amid a slew of female athletes dropping out of a martial arts tournament, when they were scheduled to compete with transgender females.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitor Ansleigh Wilk said that she “hadn’t been notified” about her transgender opponent until her teammates told her during the tournament.
“They kept asking me ‘are you fighting a man’ and I was honestly too focused on coaching the rest of the crew to really pay attention to my opponent,” she told Reduxx.
The North American Grappling Association has revised their gender identity policy after a 135lbs female jiu-jitsu athlete was matched to compete against a 200lbs trans-identified male.
James "Alice" McPike took home silver in the women's category.https://t.co/NEhNZxr6iT
— REDUXX (@ReduxxMag) September 15, 2023
Wilk quit after realizing she wouldn’t be fighting a biological woman, after her past experience fighting transgender woman left her feeling out muscled and “sincerely scared.”
“The majority of the women feel scared to even speak out about this matter. They don’t want to be labeled a bigot or transphobic,” she told the outlet.
“There’s so many girls just not signing up now because they are allowing this. Women’s sports will cease to exist if this keeps up. Medals, belts, records, and money are going to be stripped right away from women.”
After the walkout, the North American Grappling Association changed its policy on October 28, when they updated their website to state that they will restrict transgender females from competing with biological women to “ensure fairness.”
“Transgender females must compete in the men’s division. We hope that the simplicity of this revised policy will help to avoid any future occurrences where transgender females enter women divisions,” the policy now reads.
“If NAGA staff is informed that a transgender female is in a women’s division, they will be given the choice to go to the men’s division or given a refund.”