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 12.46am, was in response to insults the two-time Academy Award winner actor made outside the former US president’s criminal trial in lower Manhattan on Tuesday.
Flanked by two police officers who fought off Trump loyalists at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, the 80-year-old actor denounced Trump as “another crappy real estate hustler masquerading as a big shot” and shouted down supporters he called “self-styled patriots” opposed to the democratic process.
“When Trump ran in 2016, it was like a joke,” DeNiro told reporters, calling the former president a “clown” and a “tyrant”.
“We have a second chance, and no one is laughing now. This is the time to stop him.”
If Trump returns to the White House, he said, Americans could see the civil liberties they take for granted evaporate as well as the end of elections.
“If he gets in, I can tell you right now, he will never leave,” said DeNiro.
De Niro, a longtime political activist and critic of Trump, has taken a growing role in the campaign to re-elect US President Joe Biden.
“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.
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.
Additional reporting by Reuters