By Stacy M. Brown
Hollywood legend Robert De Niro delivered a forceful and unmistakable message at The New Republic’s “Stop Trump Summit” in New York City, condemning the twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former President Donald Trump without ambiguity.
Even though De Niro could not attend the event due to his ongoing recovery from COVID-19, he entrusted ex-Trump administration official Miles Taylor to read his excoriation of the 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner.
De Niro’s central message was clear: Trump is not merely a bad person; he is, in De Niro’s words, “evil.” Drawing upon his extensive career playing various hoodlum characters and his real-life encounters with individuals of questionable moral character, De Niro offered a stark assessment of the former president, whom a civil jury found responsible this year for sexually assaulting a journalist.
“I’ve spent a lot of time studying bad men,” De Niro began. “I’ve examined their characteristics, their mannerisms, the utter banality of their cruelty. Yet there’s something different about Donald Trump. When I look at him, I don’t see a bad man. Truly. I see an evil one.”
De Niro went on to distinguish Trump from even the most notorious gangsters, remarking that while criminals often have some semblance of a moral code, Trump lacks any sense of right or wrong, ethics, or empathy for others. “He’s a wannabe tough guy with no morals or ethics. No sense of right or wrong. No regard for anyone but himself,” DeNiro said.
Drawing from his experiences as a New Yorker, De Niro attested to the city’s firsthand knowledge of Trump, whom he characterized as unfit for leadership. He pointed out that New Yorkers had already tried to warn the world about Trump in 2016, but their concerns went unheeded.
De Niro then highlighted the consequences of Trump’s presidency, including the divisive impact on America and the failures in responding to the early 2020 crisis, referring to the COVID-19 pandemic, where Trump’s actions resulted in a significant loss of life.
The actor likened Trump’s leadership to an abusive father ruling through fear and violence. He emphasized that Trump should not be underestimated and dismissed as a fool, as the danger of his impact on the nation was real and menacing.
He emphasized the urgency of the situation and called on Americans to take action, asserting that democracy’s survival depended on unity and collective effort to prevent the return of what he described as a “wannabe dictator.”
He appealed to those who still supported Trump, urging respectful outreach rather than condemnation, and encouraged discussions centered on right and wrong, humanity, kindness, security, and decency.
“From this place where Abraham Lincoln spoke — right here in the beating heart of New York — to the rest of America: This is our last chance,” DeNiro asserted.
“Democracy won’t survive the return of a wannabe dictator. And it won’t overcome evil if we are divided,” he added. “So what do we do about it? I know I’m preaching to the choir here. What we’re doing today is valuable, but we have to take today into tomorrow – take it outside these walls. We have to reach out to the half of our country who have ignored the hazards of Trump and, for whatever reason, support elevating him back into the White House.”
In a rousing call to action, De Niro left the audience with the following challenge: “We won’t get them all, but we can get enough to end the nightmare of Trump, and fulfill the mission of this ‘Stop Trump Summit.’”
