Prior to Sunday’s Oscars, actor Robert De Niro traveled over to HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher to warn that if Trump wins in November, then Trump will “come looking for me.” Later, on Monday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC, De Niro claimed Trump is simultaneously “so [bleep] stupid” and a “[bleep] moron.”
Maher led De Niro with a somber question, “Why is Trump winning? I mean, the poll, the New York Times poll this week, came out, and maybe this will change with the State of the Union Address, but Trump was beating him rather soundly, it was quite a warning light, 48 to 43, also winning way more among women, women, than he had before, winning outright Latinos, what do you attribute that to?”
Despite trying to portray himself as a tough guy, De Niro could only sheepishly answer, “I don't know, I just don't want to feel the way I did and many of us don't after the election in 2016 where we couldn't believe that it happened.”
He then tried to get into the head of a Trump supporter, “The guy is a total monster and anybody -- I don't understand it. I guess they get behind the kind of logic, they want to fuck with people, screw them because they're unhappy about something. He's such a mean, nasty, hateful person. I’d never play him as an actor because I can't see any good in him, nothing, nothing at all, nothing redeemable in him.”
De Niro also warned that a Trump win will have specific negative consequences for him and Maher personally, “If he wins the election, you won't be on this show anymore, he'll come looking for me. They’ll be things that happened that none of us can imagine. That's what happens in that kind of a dictatorship which is what he says, let's believe him, take him at his word.”
On Monday, Kimmel showed De Niro some old Trump social media posts about him and wondered, “Now, in all fairness to the former president, is that true? Do you have to use a teleprompter when speaking about President Trump? Or are you able to just kind of riff on your thoughts on him?”
Providing the audience with the cathartic experience he was brought on to provide, De Niro, “Yeah. I -- he's so [bleep] stupid.”
After several seconds of raucous cheering from the audience and heavy laughter from Kimmel, De Niro continued, “I mean, look at the lame, inane things that he's said. He's so stupid, he can't even say anything clever. He’s a [bleep] moron! But he’s a scary one and in all seriousness, and we know it here, people have to get out and vote and vote and vote and vote.”
The late night shows aren’t necessarily places to go for a good laugh, rather they are method of escapism for liberals who want other liberals to make them feel better.
Here is a transcript for the March 8 and 11 shows:
HBO Real Time with Bill Maher
3/8/2024
10:14 PM ET
BILL MAHER: So, why is Trump winning? I mean, the poll, the New York Times poll this week, came out, and maybe this will change with the State of the Union Address, but Trump was beating him rather soundly, it was quite a warning light, 48 to 43, also winning way more among women, women, than he had before, winning outright Latinos, what do you attribute that to?
ROBERT DE NIRO: I don't know, I just don't want to feel the way I did and many of us don't after the election in 2016 where we couldn't believe that it happened. The guy is a total monster and anybody -- I don't understand it. I guess they get behind the kind of logic, they want to fuck with people, screw them because they're unhappy about something. He's such a mean, nasty, hateful person. I’d never play him as an actor because I can't see any good in him, nothing, nothing at all, nothing redeemable in him.
And we have-- whoever the people who are who want to vote for him and they look like intelligent people around there, for some reason, it can't be, it cannot be. If he wins the election, you won't be on this show anymore, he'll come looking for me. They’ll be things that happened that none of us can imagine. That's what happens in that kind of a dictatorship which is what he says, let's believe him, take him at his word.
***
ABC Jimmy Kimmel Live!
3/12/2024
12:21 AM ET
JIMMY KIMMEL: Now, in all fairness to the former president, is that true? Do you have to use a teleprompter when speaking about President Trump? Or are you able to just kind of riff on your thoughts on him?
ROBERT DE NIRO: Yeah. I -- he's so [bleep] stupid. I mean, look at the lame, inane things that he's said. He's so stupid, he can't even say anything clever. He’s a [bleep] moron! But he’s a scary one and in all seriousness, and we know it here, people have to get out and vote and vote and vote and vote.
