Ellen DeGeneres has hit back at first son Eric Trump’s suggestion that she’s a part of the “Deep State” bent on undermining democracy.
“What is the Deep State?” the comedian asked in an advance clip from her Thursday show, before joking, “Is it near Dollywood? Because I’m in if it is.”
Eric Trump, the president’s second son, on Tuesday questioned Twitter’s automated recommended follows, including a screen grab that had suggested he follow Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Ellen DeGeneres.
“Shocking,” the 33-year-old Trump tweeted with a screenshot of the suggestions. “Once again, here are the @Twitter ‘suggestions’ of who I should follow. #DeepState.”
DeGeneres said she was initially confused by the “Deep State” reference. “So, I found out Deep State is supposed to be a group of people they believe are trying to undermine Donald Trump — which is ridiculous because no one has undermined Donald Trump more than Donald Trump,” the host said.
“I am honored that you think that I’m powerful enough to be part of a government conspiracy,” she continued.
“Even if somebody wanted me to be involved, I don’t have that kind of time,” she joked. “I’ve got my gay agenda meetings on Mondays. I’ve got on Wednesday, Beyoncé and I host an illuminati brunch. And then Portia [De Rossi] and I on the weekends are desperately trying to have a baby so I can’t. I don’t have time.”
DeGeneres also told the audience that when she initially saw her name trending on Twitter, she thought it was due to the success her NBC game show, “Game of Games,” which had a strong night in the ratings.
DeGeneres concluded her thoughts on the matter by giving Trump a primer in Twitter’s algorithms put her on his suggested follows list.
“But there’s probably another explanation for why Twitter suggested that you follow me. I mean it could be a conspiracy or it could be because your sister Ivanka follows me on Twitter, and your sister Tiffany follows me on Twitter and maybe you should follow me,” she said. “I mean, because I post a lot of cute videos. We might not agree on politics, but I think we can both agree that this is cute…”
Watch the video above.