Robert De Niro appeared emotional after calling on Americans to ‘resist’ Donald Trump and his administration.
During a recent appearance on The Best People With Nicole Wallace podcast, the longtime Trump critic argued that the former president is causing serious harm to the country.
“The story is our country, and Trump is destroying it, and who knows what his reasons are, but it’s sick, it’s f***** up,” the 82-year-old said, before adding: “We have to save the country.”
He then described Trump as an “enemy of this country,” urging people to unite in order to move forward.
“Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s that simple. Everybody has to stick together to get them out and get back on track.”
Continuing to address his concerns about the administration, De Niro returned to a single message: resistance.
“That’s the only way. There’s no magic. There’s no nothing – people are not going to go away, even if Trump dies for some reason by having an illness or something,” he added. “Parts of that movement are still there, and that’s the scary part. It has to be neutralized by the people.”
Later in the conversation, De Niro appeared to get choked up after Wallace commended him for consistently “lifting up” those around him.
“You have to — you have to lift people up,” De Niro said as he began to choke up. “You have to bring them together. Period. You can’t divide people. You can’t win that way.”
He went on to suggest the nation is facing a situation where the stakes are unusually high, and he framed it as something the public has to confront directly.
“Look what we have, look who we have there, it’s almost like a destiny to have this thing there, destroying… attempting to destroy this country and maybe not even understanding why. So it’s up to us to protect the country.”
It also isn’t the first time De Niro has publicly spoken out against Trump and his political movement. In October 2025, he appeared in a video shared by the political activist group Indivisible.
In the TikTok clip, De Niro referenced America’s founding and warned that democracy could be undermined again, according to Variety.
“Americans decided they didn’t want to live under the rule of King George III. They declared their independence and fought a bloody war for democracy. We’ve had two and a half centuries of democracy since then. Often challenging, sometimes messy, always essential.
“Now we have a would-be king who wants to take it away: King Donald the First. Fuck that. We’re rising up again, this time, nonviolently raising our voices to declare: No Kings.”