Trump says his political consultants don't want him going after trans athletes — but still made baseless transphobic remarks during his speech in DC

Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his political consultants told him not to criticize athletes who are trans.

About 45 minutes into his speech at the America First Agenda Summit in Washington, DC, Trump said that men shouldn't play in women's sports.

The former president paused his speech for close to 20 seconds to take in the applause and the reaction of the crowd.

It's so crazy. He said that it shows you what all of the political geniuses are like.

He stated that his comment had not been written down.

"I just said it, thought it might be a good time, and I got the biggest hand of the night," Trump said.

Trump went into a rant about trans athletes. He mentioned the experiences of University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Olympic weightlifter Laural Hubbard.

Thomas has been criticized from the right many times. The trans swimmer's win at an NCAA swimming tournament in March has not been recognized by many conservatives.

Trump made fun of trans weightlifters when he pretended to struggle to lift weights.

His comments about transphobia came less than a week after he made a bizarre claim that Lebron James could play in women's sports.

Athletes who are trans can compete in the Olympics. The International Olympic Committee adopted a framework to encourage Olympic sports to include trans athletes.

Trans girls have been banned from sports in at least 10 states in the US. Texas, Arizona, and Oklahoma have moved to prohibit trans girls and women from playing sports.

Between his inauguration day and July 2020, the Trump administration took a number of actions against the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer (LGBT) community. The regulations to protect trans people from discrimination were rolled back.