On Wednesday morning, February 25, 2026, President Donald Trump launched a heated series of posts on Truth Social aimed at actor Robert De Niro and Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, arguing that all three should be deported after they delivered rival speeches the previous night criticizing his State of the Union address.
The 82-year-old Oscar-winning actor headlined an opposition event titled “State of the Swamp” at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday evening—speaking at the same time Trump addressed Congress just over a mile away at the U.S. Capitol. De Niro gave an impassioned speech urging Americans to push back against the administration.
The president quickly retaliated. In his Wednesday morning post, Trump claimed De Niro and the two lawmakers should “actually get on a boat” together and leave the nation.
“They should actually get on a boat with Trump Deranged Robert De Niro, another sick and demented person with, I believe, a very Low IQ, who has no clue what he is doing or saying—some of which is seriously CRIMINAL!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump especially ridiculed De Niro’s emotional remarks, unfavorably comparing him to long-standing adversary Rosie O’Donnell, who relocated to Ireland in January 2025 to avoid the spotlight of Trump’s second term. O’Donnell recently told SiriusXM’s Chris Cuomo that she made a quiet trip back to the U.S. to see family but described the environment as “scary.”
Trump also lashed out at Omar and Tlaib, who interrupted his State of the Union speech Tuesday night by yelling “You have killed Americans” after Trump addressed Minnesota’s Somali community. Their protest referenced two U.S. citizens fatally shot by federal officers in Minneapolis in January—Renée Good on January 7 and Alex Pretti on January 24.
The president described the two progressive representatives as having “the bulging, bloodshot eyes of crazy people” and suggested they should be “sent back from where they came—as fast as possible.” Omar is a Somalia-born American citizen, and Tlaib was born in Detroit, Michigan, making Trump’s deportation threats legally questionable at best.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung added fuel to the fire in comments to USA TODAY, labeling De Niro a “washed-up has-been who hasn’t been relevant in 30 years” and claiming he should receive “immediate treatment for a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
The “State of the Swamp” event was arranged by Defiance.org. Other speakers included “Avengers” actor Mark Ruffalo, who appeared remotely, and former CNN anchor Jim Acosta. De Niro also appeared on “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” podcast on February 23, where he called Trump “the enemy of this country” and predicted the president would resist leaving office at the end of his term.
The tensions went beyond celebrities. Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a 19-year-old guest at the State of the Union from Milford, Massachusetts, exited the speech early after the Department of Homeland Security publicly labeled him “an illegal alien who has no right to be in our nation.” Gomes da Silva legally entered the U.S. from Brazil at age six with his parents, though his visa later expired. In May, ICE detained him while he was driving to volleyball practice, holding him for six days in Burlington before releasing him.
Meanwhile, new reports indicated that a White House staffer named Garrett Wade appears to be the person behind the “Johnny MAGA” account on X, which has nearly 300,000 followers and frequently promotes administration messaging without revealing its government ties. WIRED reported that Wade serves as a rapid response manager for the Trump administration. The account has shared provocative commentary about the Minneapolis shootings and other polarizing issues, raising concerns about transparency and ethics.
De Niro, who was born in the United States and has long been outspoken in his criticism of Trump, told the National Press Club audience Tuesday that he feels “betrayed by my country” under the current administration. His call for Americans to defend democratic principles through peaceful protest and voting fueled a 24-hour media firestorm that extended far beyond the State of the Union itself.
