Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump lamented the growing acceptance of transgender Americans during an appearance at the annual gathering of Moms for Liberty, a national group that has spearheaded efforts to get mentions of LGBTQ+ identity and structural racism out of K-12 classrooms.

Trump said transgender women should not be allowed to play in women’s sports and said access to gender-affirming healthcare should be restricted. He also lashed out at critics who have accused him of using Arlington National Cemetery for a campaign photo op.

But he largely stuck to his favorite topics during an hourlong “fireside chat” on Friday in Washington, where he lashed out at President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, deplored illegal immigration and reminisced about his parents’ marriage, his path to being the reality television star of “The Apprentice” and the debate that ended Biden’s reelection campaign.

“Our country is being poisoned. And your schools and your children are suffering greatly because they’re going into the classrooms and taking disease, and they don’t even speak English,” Trump claimed of immigrants crossing the border illegally. “It’s crazy.”

Trump said school boards have become “like dictatorships” hostile to the desires of parents, echoing conservative frustration that bubbled over in public meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m for parental rights all the way. I don’t even understand the concept of not being,” Trump said.

Trump did not address the U.S. Army’s allegation that an Arlington National Cemetery official was “ abruptly pushed aside ” in an altercation with Trump aides this week while he visited the graves of servicemembers killed in a terrorist attack during the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. But he said the families asked to take a photo with him.

Photos of the cemetery visit showed Trump standing by the graves, smiling and flashing a thumbs-up gesture next to relatives of Staff Sgt. Darin Taylor Hoover and Sgt. Nicole Gee.

Trump entered a hotel ballroom in Washington as he does at his signature rallies, standing and soaking up applause for the entirety of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” followed by chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump.” Seated onstage with the co-founder of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice, he shared some of his favorite stories that are mainstays at his rallies, bouncing from topic to topic in a style that has become familiar to his supporters.

The former president sought to shore up support and enthusiasm among a major part of his base. The bulk of Moms for Liberty’s 130,000-plus members believe that racial equity programs and transgender accommodations don’t belong in schools. The group helped push a surge in book bannings.

Yet Trump also runs the risk of alienating some moderate voters, many of whom see Moms for Liberty’s activism as too extreme to be legitimized by a presidential nominee.

A year ago, Moms for Liberty was viewed by many as a rising power player in conservative politics that could be pivotal in supporting the Republican ticket. The group’s membership skyrocketed after its launch in 2021, fueled by parents protesting mandatory masking for students and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But in the last several months, a series of embarrassing scandals and underwhelming performances during local elections have called Moms for Liberty’s influence into question.

The group also has voiced support for Project 2025, a detailed and controversial playbook for the next conservative presidency from which Trump has repeatedly tried to distance himself.

Moms for Liberty serves on the advisory board for Project 2025, and the author of the document’s education chapter taught a “strategy session” at the group’s Friday gathering.

The negative perceptions about Moms for Liberty around the country could increase the potential liability for Trump as he sits down with co-founder Justice, said University of Central Florida political science professor Aubrey Jewett.

“It certainly helps him rally his base,” Jewett said. “But will that be enough to outdo the backlash?”

In an interview before the event, Justice disputed the idea that her group’s influence is waning, pointing to the 60% of Moms for Liberty-backed candidates who won their recent races in the Florida primaries.

That’s “a really big deal,” she said, especially considering that many of the school board hopefuls the group endorses are first-time candidates running against incumbents. She also noted three Moms for Liberty members who won Florida House primaries, showing the group’s reach into other political offices.

Trump spent several minutes of the chat discussing transgender issues in adult sports, including the recent Olympics, where vitriol erupted over a female boxer who was widely misidentified as transgender.

Trump falsely claimed Algerian boxer Imane Khelif “transitioned” and the former president said he wouldn’t want to fight her. Khelif was born female.

Trump’s education proposals include promoting school choice, giving parents more say in education and awarding funding preference to states and school districts that abolish teacher tenure, financially reward good teachers and allow parents to directly elect school principals.

He also has called for terminating the Department of Education, barring transgender athletes from playing in girls’ sports, and cutting funding from schools with vaccine mandates or with “inappropriate racial, sexual or political content.” He offered no new education proposals Friday.

Harris has criticized Trump for his threats to dismantle the Department of Education. She also has spoken out against efforts to restrict classroom content related to race.

Democrats have lauded her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, for an executive order he signed protecting the rights of LGBTQ people to receive gender-affirming healthcare in his state. Republicans, including Trump, have lambasted him for it.

During a campaign stop earlier Friday in Johnstown, Pa., Trump criticized the media for what he called unfavorable coverage and singled out CNN.

Moments later, a man rushed the media area and made it over a bike rack barrier and close to a riser where television reporters were watching the rally. Private security pushed him back, and the man was eventually subdued by law enforcement using a Taser.

Trump at first said of the man, “he’s on our side,” but it’s not clear what his intent was. As police led the man away, the former president declared, “Is there anywhere that’s more fun to be than a Trump rally?”

Swenson, Balingit and Weissert write for the Associated Press. AP writer Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.