Robert DeNiro: Trump’s America has turned into a ‘tragic dumbass comedy’

2017 Tribeca Film Festival - Chanel Artists Dinner

Robert DeNiro has already said that he wants to punch Donald Trump in the face. He also said that watching Trump get elected felt a lot like another 9/11. DeNiro loathes Trump and everything he stands for. It is known. So this story is a little bit like “water is wet, DeNiro slams Trump again,” but I feel like it’s worth covering all the same. I wonder how Trump voters feel when they hear someone like Robert DeNiro – someone beloved by conservatives and liberals alike – say that the current state of the country is a nightmare.

Robert De Niro has given the current state of the country two thumbs down. Speaking to a class of Brown University graduates Sunday, the Oscar-winning actor lamented that “in movie terms,” the U.S. was once “an inspiring uplifting drama” but has now turned into “a tragic dumbass comedy,” according to the Associated Press.

De Niro, who received an honorary doctorate of fine arts from the Ivy League school, urged the graduates to “work to stop the insanity” and to strive to make the world a better place. The day before the commencement ceremony, the 73-year-old actor also called the current political climate “nightmarish” and referred to President Trump as an “idiot.”

De Niro has long been critical of Trump’s political acumen, likening him to a car salesman with “a big hustle” in 2011 and describing him last summer as “totally nuts” and unfit to lead. A month before the election, De Niro said in an outtake for a celebrity endorsement video that he’d “like to punch [Trump] in the face.” (After Trump won, De Niro said he “can’t [punch him] now — he’s the president”.)

[From EW]

Are we living in a “tragic dumbass comedy”? I’m really asking. There’s dark humor to be found in many of these crazy news cycles, and lord knows, I still chuckle about the size of Donald Trump’s baby-carrot-like fingers. But for thousands – if not millions – of Americans, this situation is life-and-death. What’s happening is not a dumbass comedy, it’s a terrifying ordeal which will leave the country forever scarred, if not irreparably damaged. Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer.

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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12 Responses to “Robert DeNiro: Trump’s America has turned into a ‘tragic dumbass comedy’”

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  1. SusanneToo says:

    Great actor, astute trump watcher.

    • MollyD says:

      De Niro is an anti-vaxxer.

      He’s cancelled.

      (right about Trump tho)

      • Nanea says:

        @MollyD: Yes, RdN is a “tragic dumbass” himself, who is sadly still aligning himself with unethical frauds like Andrew Fakefield and RFKennedy, Jr – even after immunologists and other scientists tried to explain things to him…

      • hannah89 says:

        cracks me up but also depresses me when people like him think they know more than people with science/medical degrees.

  2. mia girl says:

    I get what he’s saying from the standpoint that most of us need to find the absurd humor in what is happening to get through how scary/frustrating/dangerous it is.

    But on a separate topic, I have to say that what Deniro is describing…

    “was once “an inspiring uplifting drama” but has now turned into “a tragic dumbass comedy”

    …well, it also kinda sounds like his career.

    Sorry, but someone had to say it. Why is he in so many crappy movies now?

    • SusanneToo says:

      Maybe because the movies of his prime-Mean Streets, Godfather 2, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Once Upon a Time in America, etc., aren’t being made anymore? Maybe he’s aged out of certain roles? Who knows? I don’t go to see his recent movies, but in his best days he was wonderful. The same thing has happened to others, Brando and Pacino come to mind. And it seems to be happening to Depp and Cruise, also.

    • Faith27 says:

      The Wizard of Lies is a very good movie, his performance in some scenes is chilling.

      • SusanneToo says:

        Yeah, I think many older stars need to go to premium cable or streaming to find quality work.
        I just checked the schedules of the two multiplexes in my town. Not One Single Film you could pay me to see.
        Except for Wonder Woman-I’ll be there for that.

  3. Teebee says:

    After today’s Twitter Covfefe-fest, I’d say Idiocracy-level dumbassery. But big picture, long term damage, that is hard to predict. I see mass desensitization of holding such an esteemed position accountable as the saddest most obvious fallout. And as much as I laughed long and hard at some of the most awesome and clever mocks of Trump’s latest gaffe, I also feel that we are now in forgiveness mode, like Trump is so clueless and ineffective as a leader, that we can’t be afraid, we should only laugh and point. We should be afraid. Very afraid.

    I mean, instead of Trump being red faced and immature about the mockfest on his Twitter doorstep, he went with the joke (or someone pretty clever in his administration took his phone and did it for him), and now it humanizes him, and defuses the situation. All forgiven, let’s move on while he continues to dismantle, maim and mangle the country. Nothing to see here…

    Stay woke everyone. Never let your guard down. There’s so much time left for irreparable damage to be done.

    • LoveShoes says:

      Unfortunately this is not a tragic, dumbass comedy. This is truly tragic in every aspect of the word. Trump has proven himself to be unfit and dangerous. He just pulled out of the Paris climate accord without the balls to tell the other leaders to their face, due to the fact that he is a coward. We have lost all credibility world wide, and unfortunately for those that are on ACA they will suffer the greatest, and with their lives probably.

  4. minx says:

    I only hope the courts, the voters, the intelligence community…that all these things work to counteract this toxic president. The Senate and House are useless, and they should be a check on him and they aren’t.

  5. Sarah says:

    Well said, Robert. It’s like he took the words right out of my mouth.