“Morning Joe” guest host Katty Kay asked senior spokesperson for the Biden-Harris 2024 reelection campaign, Adrienne Elrod, what type of an impact it makes having a major Hollywood star like Robert De Niro narrate their newest campaign ad against Donald Trump as election season inches nearer.
“What difference does it make in terms of swing-voters, in terms of donors, having a celebrity voice ads like that?” Kay questioned. Elrod responded by saying it’s all about the large platform De Niro has on top of his background and relatability as a New York native.
“It’s incredibly important, of course, Katty because, No. 1, it does break through,” Elrod said. “I mean, Robert De Niro, two-time Academy Award-winner. He’s from New York, he epitomizes the ultimate ability to draw contrast with a fellow New Yorker, but we also with this ad, Katty, want to make sure that the American people understand that as bad as the Trump presidency was in the first go-around, it will be even worse in the second go-around.”
In the 30-second video, De Niro outlines Trump’s long history of promoting violence and his plans to act as a dictator on his first day in the White House if reelected.
“From midnight tweets to drinking bleach to tear-gassing citizens and staging a photo op, we knew Trump was out of control when he was president,” De Niro narrates. The video is coupled with a montage of footage of Trump’s public appearances over the past months. “Then he lost the 2o20 election and snapped, desperately trying to hold on to power. Now he’s running again. This time threatening to be a dictator to terminate the constitution. Trump wants revenge, and he’ll stop at nothing to get it.”
Elrod said Trump’s motives are very clear, and urged Americans to be aware of what they’d get out of another four years under him.
“He’s made it very clear that he wants to rule like a dictator,” she reiterated. “He’s made it very clear that if he loses this election there will be a bloodbath and he’s made it very clear that he’s going to use a second term not to fight for the American people, but to seek political revenge on his enemies. So we want to make sure that the American people truly understand that this contrast, truly understand what’s at stake, and you’re going to see a lot more contrast like this coming from us, Katty, in the closing five and a half months between now and the election.”
When you think about it, De Niro is actually the perfect celeb to speak out against Trump on behalf of Biden and Harris, as he’s never been silent about his disdain for Trump.
In 2016, De Niro called the then-republican presidential nominee a “punk” and said he wanted to “punch” him “in the face” in what was supposed to be a nonpartisan video encouraging people to vote.
In 2018, during his Tony Awards speech, the actor straight up said, “F—k Trump.”
There was also that one time in 2019 during a CNN appearance when De Niro responded to questions about Fox News taking issue with his jabs at Trump. “This guy should not be president, period,” he said.
Trump has taken a few swings back at De Niro. Most notably, he referred to the actor as a “loser” and told him to worry about his family in a Truth Social post after De Niro called him out again during his Gotham Awards speech in 2023.
“De Niro should focus on his life, which is a mess, rather than the lives of others. He has become a total loser, as the world watches, waits and laughs!” Trump wrote at the time.
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