President Donald Trump has launched a furious tirade against Hollywood veteran Robert De Niro, suggesting the American-born actor should be put on a boat and deported from his own country.
The wild rant came after the Oscar-winning actor delivered a speech on Tuesday night to counter Trump’s State of the Union address, in which he warned that a “failing, flailing and desperate” Trump would try to steal November’s midterm elections.
“Who’s going to stop him?” De Niro asked the crowd of activists that gathered about a mile from where Trump was giving his speech. “We the people.”
But in a 237-word Truth Social post on Wednesday, the president hit back, suggesting De Niro should be kicked out of the country alongside Somali-born congresswoman Ilhan Omar and Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib.
The two Democrats had accused Trump of being a “liar” as he attacked Somalis and illegal immigrants in his speech to Congress on Tuesday, creating one of the more heated moments of the night.
“When you watch Low IQ Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, as they screamed uncontrollably last night at the very elegant State of the Union, such an important and beautiful event, they had the bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people, LUNATICS, mentally deranged and sick who, frankly, look like they should be institutionalized,” Trump wrote in yet another racially-charged social media post.
“When people can behave like that, and knowing that they are Crooked and Corrupt Politicians, so bad for our Country, we should send them back from where they came — as fast as possible. They can only damage the United States of America, they can do nothing to help it.
“They should actually get on a boat with Trump Deranged Robert De Niro, another sick and demented person with, I believe, an extremely Low IQ, who has absolutely no idea what he is doing or saying — some of which is seriously CRIMINAL!”
De Niro has been one of the most outspoken Hollywood critics of Donald Trump for nearly a decade. During the 2016 presidential campaign, the Goodfellas star released a video calling Trump “dangerous” and “totally nuts”, and that he’d like to “punch him in the face.”
Two years later in the 2018 Tony Awards, he opened remarks with an on-stage “F*** Trump,” which drew a standing ovation.
And in 2024, days before Trump was criminally convicted for falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal with a porn star, De Niro made a surprise appearance outside the Manhattan court where Trump was on trial, describing him as a “tyrant” who New Yorkers barely tolerated, even “when he was just another grubby real estate hustler”.
On Tuesday, he headlined a “State of the Swamp” protest in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club.
The event was held by anti-Trump group Defiance.org, and featured activists, Democratic lawmakers, former CNN host Don Lemon, and members of the Portland Frog Brigade, which gained fame after wearing inflatable frog suits to ICE protests in Oregon last fall.
“Despite the theme tonight, I didn’t come here to talk about the State of the Union. That’s too depressing, right now,” De Niro told the crowd.
“I’m more concerned about what the State of the Union will be in November, because a failing, flailing, and desperate Donald Trump is even more dangerous than the tyrant we’ve already experienced.
He added that in the current climate, “declaring love for our country is like an abused spouse professing love for their abuser.”
“I’m not going anywhere—this is my house, my home—but I have to tell you, I’m not too crazy about living in this dysfunctional relationship,” he said.
Trump, in turn, claimed he saw De Niro “break down in tears last night, much like a child would do,” although this was not the case.
“I realized that he may be even sicker than Crazy Rosie O’Donnell, who is right now in Ireland trying to figure out how to come back into our beautiful United States,” he said, referencing the comedian and outspoken Trump critic, who the president also despises.
“The only difference between De Niro and Rosie is that she is probably somewhat smarter than him, which isn’t saying much,” he added.
