trump's big save-women's-sports moment was telling a rally a wnba player is on the team "to help you with attendance." girl, run.

Photo: Lorie Shaull, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

via People, OutKick and the New York Post, from the full rally video

The segment was supposed to be about protecting women's sports. That is how Donald Trump got onto Sophie Cunningham on Monday night in Youngstown, Ohio: he was on transgender athletes, asked Jon Gruden in the crowd whether he had ever been desperate for a woman on one of his championship teams, mentioned female kickers, and then landed on the Indiana Fever guard the right has adopted as its WNBA mascot.

Here is what he said, from the full rally upload, about 22 minutes into the video: "I like Sophie. Yeah, you'd 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." He did not take it back. "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."

what trump said about cunningham

So, to recap the women's sports position: the women should be protected, and the one he likes is there for the men in the seats. People helpfully headlined it as Trump "dissing her basketball skills," and noted, as did the Post, that she averaged 7.9 points a game this season, her lowest in five years, and is a free agent. Brutal week to be her agent.

Cunningham earned the fan club this summer. In a July ESPN profile she said she wanted "to protect young girls in a locker room, or young girls in sport who shouldn't have to go against biological men." Former player Sydney Colson's answer to white players with opinions like that was "nobody wants to hear your opinion". The president's answer, it turns out, is that nobody wants to see your jump shot either.

same rally, same night

This is also the speech where Trump told the arena he had "looked at" Sen. Jon Husted's ass. One night, two bodies, and only one of them was on the court. People said Cunningham did not respond to its request for comment.