Donald Trump fires back at Robert De Niro in Truth Social rant
NEW YORK — Donald Trump lashed out at actor Robert De Niro in a middle-of-the-night rant posted to Truth Social.
“I never knew how small, both mentally and physically, Wacko Former Actor Robert De Niro was,” Trump wrote. “Today, De Niro, who suffers from an incurable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, commonly known in the medical community as TDS, was met, outside the Courthouse, with a force far greater than the Radical Left — MAGA.”
Trump’s posting, timestamped 12:46 a.m., was in response to insults the nearly 5-foot-10 actor made outside the former president’s criminal trial in lower Manhattan Thursday.
Flanked by two police officers who fought off Trump loyalists at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the 80-year-old actor joined member of President Biden’s campaign team in denouncing Trump as “another crappy real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot” and shouting down supporters he called “self-styled patriots” opposed to the democratic process.
“Robert, whose movies, artistry, and brand have gone WAY DOWN IN VALUE since he entered the political arena at the request of Crooked Joe Biden, looked so pathetic and sad out there,” Trump’s posting continued. “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio!!!”
The last line was a reference to the 1968 Simon and Garfunkel song “Mrs. Robinson,” in which a woman sits on a sofa and listens to political candidates debate, while lamenting the loss of American heroes like the Yankees’ great who retired in 1951.
De Niro, a two-time Academy Award winner who was nominated for another Oscar in March, is a longtime Trump critic. The “Raging Bull” actor has called the former reality TV star “our baby-in-chief” and stated he’d like to punch him in the face. Trump previously countered by calling De Niro “a very Low IQ individual” who’s been punched in the head too many times.
The former president’s criminal case went to a jury Wednesday morning follow instructions from Judge Juan Merchan, who oversaw the trial. Trump is accused of participating in a scheme to illegally payoff a porn star whose claims of having an affair with him may have hurt his chances of being elected in 2016.