ROOKE: What Could Have Taken Decades To Fix, Trump Did In Six Months

On Tuesday, the University of Pennsylvania announced it would be bending the knee to the Trump administration on the issue of transgender athletes.

In a shocking turn of events, it seems the left has come to terms with the reality that they are losing the war and have finally decided to throw in the towel. This didn’t happen because they all of a sudden woke up believing transgender ideology was false and insidious. No. This win is because President Donald Trump made it his mission to stand up for women.

NEWS: The Trump admin has struck a deal with UPenn, forcing the school to strip Lia Thomas of his records, titles and other recognitions won while competing on the women’s sports team. @DailyCaller pic.twitter.com/1FZIeBZWnI

— Reagan Reese (@reaganreese_) July 1, 2025

Just a year ago, it felt like fighting against the transgender wave would be a battle that we would be fighting for years. While we have won significant battles in the public square, major U.S. institutions were still walking in complete lockstep with left-wing radicals. The Biden administration was using the entire weight of the federal government to ensure transgender ideology was the prevailing gender education platform and even went so far as to force U.S. schools to allow biological males into female bathrooms, changing rooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)

The hooks of this ideology were in, and it seemed like it would take decades to fix the wrongs that former President Joe Biden committed during his presidency. But that’s not how Trump works. As anyone who has ever worked for him can attest, Trump dislikes working at a slow, bureaucratic pace. If he identifies a problem with a clear solution, he wants the work to begin immediately and the conclusion to follow just as quickly.

🧵A violent “transgender” male prisoner was quietly transferred back to a men’s prison in June, years after he was accused of sexually assaulting his female cellmate in a women’s prison.

My latest for the @DailyCaller News Foundation. pic.twitter.com/GSUfBeXGHf

— Meg Brock (@MegEBrock) July 2, 2025

Enter the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn). The university was in the spotlight early on in this fight for allowing their biological male swimmer, Will “Lia” Thomas, to compete in the female category. He ranked embarrassingly low for male swimmers, but unsurprisingly became a top competitor when he swam against women.

Thomas participated in the 2022 NCAA championships, winning the 500-yard women’s final by 1.75 seconds. The biological reality of the difference between men and women was so apparent that it started to change the minds of fence sitters who would have usually turned a blind eye to the transgender athlete question. (ROOKE: Michelle Obama Doesn’t Just Hate Her Husband — She Hates Her Kids, Too)

Women from all around the world spoke out against Thomas’s inclusion in the female swim meets. It was a true social catalyst if there ever was one. Trump became the first world leader to not only speak out against this insanity but also put his words into action. He signed executive orders and legislation that forced the federal government to act against cases like Thomas’s.

Did @Penn issue an apology for the money???

Either way, the Trump administration made them bend the knee and come to the table.

Every university that violates Title IX should have its federal funds pulled. pic.twitter.com/bwVXNEfguC

— Paula Scanlan (@PaulaYScanlan) July 2, 2025

UPenn was put under a federal investigation for its adherence to transgender ideology and the unfairness and clear safety issues that were brought to its female athletes. The Trump administration paused $175 million in federal funding to UPenn in March. At risk of losing funding and other repercussions, they struck a deal with Trump.

Not only would they end their love affair with hurting women by including biological men, but they would also issue an apology to the female athletes who were harmed and demonized due to the school’s actions, and they would adopt biology-based definitions for the words “male” and “female.”

Trump has been in office for just six months, and he’s already shown that when he promises to protect women and girls from transgender ideology, he means it. Elections have consequences, and they matter. American women won last November, and this reversal by UPenn is proof of that.

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