Ron DeSantis and some never-Trump critics have been “pouncing” on Donald Trump this week after the former president gave a rather stumbling answer on the question of transgenderism during an interview with Megyn Kelly on Thursday night. Why he elected to give the interview is something of a mystery to me, given the poor treatment he’s received from Kelly in the past, but she seemed rather pleasant and engaging this time. Kelly’s phrasing of the question appeared to intentionally set Trump up to give a wavering answer to the question, ‘Can a man become a woman?’ Yet as we’ll see in a moment, Trump did eventually come up with the correct answers during a series of follow-ups from Kelly, but he definitely took the long way around to get there. (NY Post)

Republican presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis and other conservative critics took aim at former president Donald Trump for hedging this week on the explosive issue of transgenderism — and refusing to give a clear answer on whether he believes it’s possible to change one’s sex .

Trump responded with a long-drawn-out “Ummm” and an uncomfortable laugh when host Megyn Kelly, in a Thursday interview on her “The Megyn Kelly Show” on Sirius XM, asked: “Can a man become a woman?”

“In my opinion,” he finally said, shaking his head slightly, “you have a man, you have a woman.”

You can watch this portion of the interview below and judge for yourself. It only takes up the first four and a half minutes of the video.

While DeSantis didn’t call Trump out by name the following night, he was clearly referring to this interview. He said, “Don’t tell me a man can become a woman because it’s not true.” (Which would have been a much better answer for Trump, honestly.)

But notice how Megyn Kelly framed the question. Before allowing Trump to answer, she began by reminding him that he allowed Caitlyn Jenner to use the women’s room at Mar-A-Lago and that he allowed transgender competitors to enter the Miss Universe pageant when he owned it. Then she got around to the question and Trump appeared to be back on his heels a bit.

Trump pointed out that he knew Jenner when he was Bruce Jenner, and then “all of a sudden, Bruce is Caitlyn.” He found it confusing, apparently. But Trump was quick to point out that he ended transgender activity in the military and took a strong stance on that. When Kelly tried to hone in on the more general question of whether Trump believes that trans “women” should be allowed in women’s restrooms, locker rooms, and women’s spaces, he referred back to his position on the military. He was clearly saying “no” but didn’t seem to want to put it that bluntly, so he took a meandering route to get there.

When Kelly got around to children receiving trans treatments, Trump was much stronger. Asked about puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, he immediately said, “I’m so against it.” As for trans surgery on children, he referred to it correctly as mutilation. He seemed amazed that anyone would have to even ask the question of whether or not children should be mutilated by doctors. That was probably his strongest answer in this line of questioning.

In the end, Trump never actually said that he believes a man can become a woman or vice versa. But he was very roundabout in how he tackled the question, leaving room for criticism His comment about hearing that doctors were figuring out a way for men to get pregnant was probably intended as a joke, but it opened the door to more criticism from conservatives. But it doesn’t sound like Trump has really changed at all on this topic and he would not become a trans procedure supporter if he returns to office. Or at least that’s what I took away from it.