There are people who hate Donald Trump and then there’s Robert De Niro. The legendary actor has never held back about what he thinks of the repeatedly failed businessman-turned-TV-star-turned-U.S. president. Remember that time he called him a “dog” and a “pig”? The guy’s been out of the White House for over two years now, but he’s improbably surging in the polls for a third presidential run. So De Niro’s back to torching him in public.
Robert De Niro rips Donald Trump while discussing “the banality of evil” in “Killers of the Flower Moon”: “We see it today and you know who I’m talking about but I’m not going to say his name. That guy is stupid.” https://t.co/YeZrO6zkFm #Cannes pic.twitter.com/AbEFa515ot
— Variety (@Variety) May 21, 2023
As per Variety, De Niro attended a press conference on Saturday for Killers of the Flower Moon, his 10th film with longtime pal Martin Scorsese. He plays William Hale, a cattleman who in the 1920s ordered the killings of Native Americans to gain control of their oil reserves. De Niro has played his share of monsters over the years, but with Hale he had trouble finding a connection.
“I don’t understand a lot about my character,” De Niro said. “People do things. He has to be charming. Why does he betray them all?”
De Niro also drew parallels between the true life episode depicted in the movie and the current day. “After George Floyd with systemic racism — that’s what it is — what happens there,” he said. He talked about them learning about the Tulsa Massacre, in which prosperous Black citizens in Oklahoma were slaughtered en masse around the same time as the events depicted in Killers, while making the film.
“It’s the banality of evil. It’s the things to we have to watch out for,” De Niro said. Then he tried not to name a certain name. “We see it today, we all know how I’m going to talk about — but that guy is stupid. Hale was smart in many ways, but it’s systemic.”
He added, “There are people who still think he can do a good job. Imagine how insane that is.”
So there’s a chance Trump could once again be the Republican candidate for president — unless he’s toppled by the guy who wipes his nose then touches supporters with his snotty hands.
(Via Variety)