Watch: Robert De Niro fears retribution from 'malignant, sociopathic narcissist' Trump if he wins
Veteran actor Robert De Niro has been making no secret of his total disdain for likely 2024 GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. And during a March appearance on HBO's "Real Time," the veteran actor told host Bill Maher that he fears retribution from Trump if he defeats President Joe Biden in November and returns to the White House in January 2025.
"He's such a mean, nasty, hateful person," De Niro, now 80, said of Trump. "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…. If he wins the election, you won't be on this show anymore. He'll come looking for me."
De Niro — famous for his roles in Martin Scorsese films like "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "Casino" and "Goodfellas" as well as his own "A Bronx Tale" — warned that Trump is dead serious about turning the United States into an outright "dictatorship." And he got no argument from Maher, who has also been a scathing Trump critic.
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De Niro told Maher, "There'll be things that happen 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."
Maher responded, "I did from the beginning. I mean, I said, from the very beginning: This guy is never going to concede power. And he still hasn't. He still hasn't admitted he lost the last election."
De Niro isn't the only person who has said he fears retribution from Trump if returns to the White House.
Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney and fixer, said he seek political asylum in another country if Trump wins in November — as he will "fear for my life." And Gen. Mark Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told The Atlantic, "He'll start throwing people in jail, and I'd be on the top of the list."
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De Niro emphasized that the choice in the United States' 2024 presidential election comes down to democracy under Biden or an authoritarian "nightmare" under Trump.
De Niro told Maher, "(Trump is) a sociopathic, psychopathic, malignant narcissist."
As Maher's audience applauded, De Niro added, "He is a dangerous person…. But the people who think he is somehow going to be the answer to their prayers, whatever those are, God knows…. He's a classic bully…. He's got to be stopped."
Watch the full video below or at this link.
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