Robert De Niro delivered a speech right outside of Donald Trump‘s Manhattan trial earlier this week, and the 80-year-old movie star had a run-in with supporters for the businessman, 77. After being called “washed up” by a protestor, De Niro didn’t hesitate to respond, “F**k you,” according to NBC News.
During his press conference on Tuesday, May 28, De Niro noted that supporters of the former president “bought into his bulls**t” when he ran for office in 2016.
“The Twin Towers fell just over here, just over there. This part of the city was like a ghost town, but we vowed we would not allow terrorists to change our way of life,” the Silver Linings Playbook actor said, referring to the September 11, 2001, attacks. “I love this city. I don’t want to destroy it. Donald Trump wants to destroy not only the city but the country, and eventually he can destroy the world.”
While recalling Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016, De Niro called him a “buffoon” and pointed out that some thought the former host of The Apprentice would “never” become president.
“I don’t mean to scare you. No, no, wait — maybe I do mean to scare you,” De Niro said. “If Trump returns to the White House, you can kiss these freedoms ‘goodbye’ that we all take for granted. And elections — forget about it. That’s over; that’s done. If he gets in, I can tell you right now, he will never leave.”
While encouraging viewers to “stop” Trump by “voting him out once and for all,” De Niro told reporters, “We’ve forgotten the lessons of history that showed us other clowns who weren’t taken seriously until they became vicious dictators. With Trump, we have a second chance, and no one is laughing now.”
“If he gets in, I can tell you right now, he will never leave,” De Niro reportedly added.
Shortly after De Niro delivered his speech to reporters, Trump took to Truth Social to slam the Taxi Driver actor, calling him a “wacko.”
“I never knew how small, both mentally and physically, Wacko Former Actor Robert De Niro was,” Trump wrote on Wednesday, May 29. “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.”