In 2026, Donald Trump is closely associated with anti-trans politics. But a decade ago, when he was still campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, he was saying something very different.
In a 2016 NBC Today show town hall, Trump was asked about North Carolina’s controversial bathroom law, which restricted trans people in government buildings to facilities matching the sex on their birth certificates. His answer was strikingly permissive by comparison with where he stands now. “You leave it the way it is,” he said. “There have been very few complaints the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble.”
During the same exchange, Trump was asked directly whether Caitlyn Jenner — who had publicly come out as trans the year before — could use “any bathroom she chooses” in Trump Tower. “That is correct,” he replied.
Jenner quickly embraced the moment. A few days later, she posted a video of herself entering the women’s bathroom at Trump Tower and thanking Trump for the access, in what became one of the more surreal culture-war snapshots of the 2016 campaign.
At the time, North Carolina had become the first US state to impose a law preventing trans people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity in many public buildings, including schools and universities. The law triggered significant backlash and economic fallout before being partially repealed in 2017.
That earlier posture now sits in stark contrast with Trump’s current record. On his first day back in office in January 2025, he signed an executive order titled Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government. The order states that the policy of the United States is to recognise only two sexes, male and female, defines sex as immutable, directs federal agencies to use “sex” rather than “gender”, and requires government-issued identification documents, including passports and visas, to reflect sex as defined by the order.
The same order also instructs agencies to remove messages or policies that “promote gender ideology”, to stop federal funding from being used for that purpose, and to ensure that males are not housed in women’s federal prisons or detention facilities.
Those changes have had direct consequences, including for Jenner herself. In a recent interview, she said Trump’s passport policy had left her unable to travel internationally safely, describing the “M” sex marker on her passport as a major problem. Reuters reported in November 2025 that the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to enforce the passport policy while legal challenges continued.
Jenner said she had written to Trump asking for help, but had not heard back. Even so, she has continued to defend him publicly, saying: “I don’t blame President Trump. I love him.” That contradiction has become a recurring theme in public reaction to her politics.
So while Trump once presented himself as relatively relaxed about trans bathroom access, that moment now reads less like a sign of principle and more like an abandoned position from a time before anti-trans politics became central to his agenda. That final point is an inference based on the contrast between his 2016 comments and his 2025 executive actions.
