The Christmas movie. Trump's attack on women in sports.

Like many, a movie on Christmas day is a tradition.

Memorably, I saw The Godfather on Christmas day.

And The Sting.

And Raging Bull.

So, when making plans for Wednesday, we needed a pick.

What first came to mind was the new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown.

But then the kids offered up The Fire Inside.

I love boxing movies. Plus it had the added benefit of being shown on Christmas with closed captioning.

Closed captioning for people with impaired hearing is becoming more common in theaters. I think it should be available at all showings. But that’s not happening.

Yet.

I went to see Nickel Boys the other afternoon without captioning. As usual, I missed about a third of the dialogue because of my hearing loss.

But I still can recommend it.

A terrific, tough movie.

The Fire Inside is a boxing movie.

It tells the story of Claressa "T-Rex" Shields, a boxer from Flint, Michigan, who trained to become the first woman in this country's history to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport.

The Fire Inside is directed by Rachel Morrison. She directed Mudbound. She was also the first woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. She has twice worked with director Ryan Coogler, as cinematographer on the films Fruitvale Station and Black Panther.

Barry Jenkins wrote it. You might know him as the director of Moonlight, If Beale Street Could Talk and The Underground Railroad.

A good boxing biopic on Christmas day.

Who could ask for more?

Well, I guess Donald Trump could.

Yesterday, right after we decided to see The Fire Inside, Trump announced that “We’re going to end” women’s boxing.

“And, for all of us standing before you today, I can proudly proclaim that the Golden Age of America is upon us! It is. It’s going to be a golden age. It’s going to be a golden age. There’s a spirit that we have now that we didn’t have just a short while ago. Sadly, we didn’t have. Who the hell can have spirit watching women get beat up in a boxing ring? I don’t think that’s spirit, right? We’re going to end that one quick! We’re going to end it very quickly. We’re going to end that one very quickly.”

Although Trump has railed against transgender rights at past rallies and even misidentified at least two Olympic female boxers as men, Trump didn’t qualify Sunday’s comments by saying he wanted to ban only trans boxers — rather, he wants to end the entire sport.

In a September piece, Forbes reporter Antonio Pequeño IV wrote:

Trump falsely claimed two boxers “transitioned from men to women” and won gold medals, characterizing their victories as “demeaning to women,” though (Imane) Khelif and (Lin) Yu-Ting have participated in women’s boxing for the entirety of their careers, which date back to 2018 and 2013, respectively.

Speaking in Arizona…the former president referred to Khelif’s preliminary round win over Italian boxer Angela Carini, who abruptly withdrew from the match in round one after a strike to the nose, saying “this beautiful young woman from Italy” fought against a “man.”