Robert De Niro has urged people in America to “keep fighting” against Donald Trump, following the No Kings protests across the country.
The comments from the two-times Oscar winner and on-screen icon come following huge crowds gathering across New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and more over the weekend in opposition to Donald Trump’s policies.
As reported by BBC, thousands packed Times Square and surrounding streets, many of which holding up signs reading “Democracy not Monarchy” and “The Constitution is not optional”.
The esteemed actor was among the famous faces to help mobilise participation, and shared a video ahead of the protests saying that while democracy has survived for a quarter of a century, now “we have a would-be king who wants to take it away. King Donald the first. Fuck that.”
Now, the Taxi Driver star has spoken out again and told his fellow Americans that they “have to keep fighting” as the president continues to deploy the National Guard in major cities.
Speaking on MSNBC’s The Weekend, De Niro said of the protests: “I’m very happy to see that because we need much more of it going forward. Because that’s the only thing that the politicians are going to recognise.”
“They either face the wrath of Trump or the wrath of the people,” he added. “And they have to be more afraid of the wrath of the people and realise, ‘This is not good. I better strap on my balls and do something about it.’”
He continued: “We can’t let up. We cannot let up on them, because he is not gonna leave the White House. He does not wanna leave the White House, he will not leave the White House. Anybody who thinks [he will] is just deluding themselves, they Republicans most of all, because they know. But they’re going along with it.
“It’s a classic bully situation. We see it, and there’s no other way to face a bully. You have to face him and fight it out, and back him off, and back him down. That’s the only way this is going to work.”
Deadline also reports that the actor commented on Trump’s decision to deploy 300 California National Guard troops to Oregon, as well as in other major cities. Here, it shares that De Niro claimed that the military presence will “wear on people” until they don’t have “the freedom to walk into the polling station and vote without being intimidated.”
“We have to have a defense against that, an oppositional offence,” the Casino star continued. “We have to be strong to counter that situation when it comes, because you know that’s what he’s trying. It’s better to neutralise it now than to worry about it later.”
Earlier this year, De Niro again branded Trump a “bully” and called for people to act “without violence, but with great passion and determination” – urging film fans and the audience to organise, protest, vote, and “show our strength” during the film festival.
Before then, he called the now-president “stupid” back in 2023 at that year’s Cannes Film Festival while discussing his character in Killers Of The Flower Moon.
Trump then hit back at De Niro, calling the Hollywood star a “total loser” after the actor criticised him at the Gotham Awards.