Trump claims that Sophie Cunningham draws crowds to the WNBA because of her looks, not her scoring: “A lot of men want to see her”

P resident Donald Trump praised the Indiana Fever 's Sophie Cunningham at a rally on Monday, October 13 complimenting her appearance and crediting her with helping attract fans to the WNBA . Speaking in Ohio , Trump said the guard could help a team draw crowds even if her value did not come through scoring and also joked that politicians risk criticism when they publicly describe a woman as beautiful.

The comments come as Cunningham ’s image grew in the 2026 WNBA season, when she criticized the league’s gender-eligibility rules in July. The 30-year-old argues that the league should protect women’s sports and opposing transgender athletes’ participation, which aligns with Trump ’s own Republican agenda against transgender competitors. “I like Sophie Cunningham, I like Sophie,” Trump said. “Yeah, you have a lot of men wanting to go and watch her; she's beautiful. You're not allowed to say that anymore, however. “As a politician, please, please, let me take it back. Anytime a politician says a woman is beautiful, that is generally the end of his political career in the modern-day politics world. “But Sophie is a beautiful young woman. You probably wouldn't mind her on the team. Not to help you with points, but to help you with attendance.”

Are Trump and Cunningham aligned on the question transgender athletes in women's sport?

Trump has made restrictions on transgender participation in women’s and girls’ sports a central policy goal and in February 2025, he signed an executive order titled Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports . The order directs federal agencies to pursue limits through Title IX enforcement and the policy came following pressure from the names such as Riley Gaines , as well as the controversy during women’s boxing at the 2024 Olympic Games . The dispute in Paris involved Imane Khelif and Lin Yu-ting , who both claimed gold medals but have had their gender called into question after being permitted to compete by the International Olympic Committee , although neither has been established to be transgender. “In a few moments,” Trump said. “I'll sign a historic Executive order to ban men from competing in women's sports. It's about time. “Under the Trump administration, we will defend the proud tradition of female athletes, and we will not allow men to beat up, injure, and cheat our women and our girls. From now on, women's sports will be only for women.” He added: “Who could forget last year's Paris Olympics, where a male boxer stole the woman's gold medal after brutalizing his female opponent so viciously that she had to forfeit just after 46 seconds? “And she was a championship fighter. And actually, they had two women—or two people that transitioned, and both of them won gold medals, and they won them very convincingly. But all of that ends today, because with this Executive order, the war on women's sports is over.” However, his administration’s approach has faced challenges from states, athletes and LGBTQ+ rights advocates, who say exclusionary rules can discriminate against transgender students.