The oscar-winning Hollywood icon Robert De Niro took aim at Donald Trump last night, reopening their feud by claiming Trump “doesn’t care” how many people die from coronavirus.
More than 82,000 people have died in the US from Covid-19, according to Johns Hopkins University, more than any other country. The 76-year-old actor is a vociferous critic of the US President in almost every facet imaginable and clearly even more so amid the ongoing crisis in the US with the sheer scale of death and illness from coronavirus stateside.
De Niro told the BBC's Newsnight programme that the situation is “Shakespearean,” and that “you’ve got a lunatic saying things that people are trying to dance around”.
Trump is also accused of contradicting the advice of his scientific advisers throughout the crisis and also refuses to wear a mask even amid the advice of actual experts, including also for mindlessly suggesting doctors research whether coronavirus might be treated by injecting disinfectant into the body.
De Niro told the host Emily Mathis that “It’s appalling, it’s appalling. He wants to be re-elected, he doesn’t even care how many people die.”
Newsnight's Maitlis then argued the point that the Trump fanbase would strongly disagree, but De Niro in turn couldn't have disagreed more “No, he doesn’t care for those people. And the people who he pretends to care about are the people he has the most disdain for because he could care less about them.
“They might like to tell themselves or delude themselves, but he doesn’t care about them.”
New Yorkers De Niro and Mr Trump have sparred frequently after De Niro shouted “f*** Trump” at the Tony Awards in 2018
The drew the ire of Trump who used twitter (what else!?) to retort that “Robert De Niro, a very Low IQ individual, has received too many shots to the head by real boxers in movies. I watched him last night and truly believe he may be ‘punch-drunk’.”
