Trump calls US screen legend De Niro ‘sick, demented’ after actor’s criticism

Actor Robert De Niro speaks during the ‘State of the Swamp,’ a Democratic-led counter-programming during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Feb. 24, 2026. (Reuters)

• The ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘The Godfather’ star is a vocal critic of US president

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday called screen legend Robert De Niro “sick and demented” after the actor urged Americans to “resist” his administration.
The “Taxi Driver” and “The Godfather” star is a vocal critic of Trump, and used his lifetime achievement award speech at the Cannes Film Festival last year to slam the “philistine” president.
“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!” Trump wrote in a lengthy post on his Truth Social platform.
His remarks came after De Niro criticized the president in a podcast aired Monday, saying: “Everybody has to stick together to get them out and get back on track.”
“The story is our country, and Trump is destroying it, and who knows what his reasons are, but it’s sick,” the 82-year-old actor told “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” podcast.
“People have to resist, resist, resist, resist, resist. That’s the only way.”