On Wednesday morning, February 25, 2026, President Donald Trump issued a blistering Truth Social rant targeting actor Robert De Niro and Democratic Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, implying that all three should be deported after they each delivered separate responses to his State of the Union address the previous evening.
The 82-year-old Oscar-winning performer hosted an alternative program titled “State of the Swamp” at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night, speaking at the same time Trump addressed Congress at the U.S. Capitol just over a mile away. De Niro offered an impassioned message calling on Americans to push back against the administration.
The president quickly fired off a reply. In his Wednesday morning post, Trump declared that De Niro and the two representatives should “actually get on a boat” together and depart the United States.
“They should actually get on a boat with Trump Deranged Robert De Niro, another sick and demented person with, I believe, an extremely Low IQ, who has absolutely no idea what he is doing or saying—some of which is seriously CRIMINAL!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Trump mocked De Niro’s emotional remarks, contrasting them with those of longtime critic Rosie O’Donnell, who moved to Ireland in January 2025 to escape the environment under Trump’s second term. O’Donnell recently told SiriusXM’s Chris Cuomo that she quietly returned to the U.S. to visit family but described the trip as “scary.”
Trump also attacked Omar and Tlaib, who interrupted his State of the Union address Tuesday night by shouting “You have killed Americans” after his comments about Minnesota’s Somali community. Their outburst referenced two U.S. citizens shot and killed by federal agents in Minneapolis in January—Renée Good on January 7 and Alex Pretti on January 24.
The president described the two progressive lawmakers 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 Somali-born naturalized American citizen, and Tlaib was born in Detroit, making his deportation comments legally impossible.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung intensified the rhetoric in remarks to USA TODAY, calling De Niro a “washed-up has-been who hasn’t been relevant in 30 years” and urging him to seek “immediate treatment for a debilitating case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has rotted his peanut-sized brain.”
The “State of the Swamp” gathering was put together by Defiance.org. Other notable contributors included “Avengers” actor Mark Ruffalo, who appeared by video, and former CNN correspondent Jim Acosta. De Niro also appeared on “The Best People with Nicolle Wallace” podcast on February 23, where he referred to Trump as “the enemy of this country” and predicted he would resist leaving office once his term ends.
The tension extended beyond Hollywood. Marcelo Gomes da Silva, a 19-year-old attendee from Milford, Massachusetts, left the State of the Union early after the Department of Homeland Security publicly singled him out on social media, calling him “an illegal alien who has no right to be in our nation.” Gomes da Silva legally arrived in the U.S. from Brazil at age six, though his visa later expired. ICE detained him in May while he was driving to volleyball practice, holding him for six days in Burlington before releasing him.
Meanwhile, reports suggested that a White House staffer named Garrett Wade is likely behind the “Johnny MAGA” X account, which has nearly 300,000 followers and regularly promotes administration messaging without acknowledging its official ties. According to WIRED, Wade serves as a rapid response manager for the Trump administration. The account has posted provocative commentary about the Minneapolis shootings and other divisive issues, prompting serious concerns about transparency and ethics.
De Niro, a U.S.-born actor and vocal Trump critic, told the National Press Club on Tuesday that he feels “betrayed by my country” under the current administration. His call for peaceful resistance and renewed civic involvement ignited a 24-hour media storm that extended well beyond the State of the Union itself.
