Comedian Rosie O’Donnell has rekindled her long-running feud with Donald Trump, essentially arguing that his verbal attacks are not just personal but reveal deep-rooted sexism. The Emmy and Tony-winning performer, temporarily back in New York for a one-woman show, said that the president’s behaviour goes far beyond a typical celebrity clash.
Rosie O’Donnell says Donald Trump’s years of insults reveal something bigger than celebrity rivalry
Speaking on The View With Jake Tapper, O’Donnell framed Trump’s persistent targeting of her as a symptom of a larger prejudice. “He’s obsessed with Barack Obama, and I think that’s because he’s innately a racist. And he’s obsessed with me because he’s innately a sexist,” she stated.
Her comments follow Trump’s posting an AI video on Truth Social earlier this month. In the clip, he posed as a “doctor” diagnosing critics with “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” The post also singled out figures like Whoopi Goldberg and Robert De Niro. O’Donnell expressed pride in being targeted alongside such names. “I seem to be, you know, the obsession he can’t get rid of,” she said.
The history between the two dates back decades. During the 2015 presidential campaign, moderator Megyn Kelly confronted Trump about calling women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” Trump quipped back, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.” His attacks on her are some of the early examples of a pattern that has since extended to female journalists and political opponents.
Moreover, O’Donnell did not limit her criticism to personal grievances. She gave an assessment of the president’s mental acuity, pointing to public speaking errors. “He called [Ukraine President] Zelensky Putin,” she noted, also referencing Trump’s misnaming of Iran as the “Islamic Republic of Japan.” She likened him to an elderly relative whose mistakes are worrying rather than harmless. “His demise is visible and apparent to everyone who is not willfully blind,” she said.
However, O’Donnell also scolded the Democratic Party for what she called a failure to recognise an unfolding crisis. “It is an emergency. It’s not like fascism might come here. Fascism has already arrived,” she warned.
Originally reported by Devanshi Basu on Mandatory.
