Apple cider vinegar Is Pilates for you? 'Ambient gaslighting' 'Main character energy'
PEOPLE
Robert De Niro

Robert De Niro goes off on Trump in new video

Jayme Deerwester
USA TODAY

After the 2005 Donald Trump/Billy Bush tape surfaced Friday, the GOP candidate's detractors barely even need to expend their own energy citing the various qualities that make him unfit for the presidency — he's doing a fine job of that on his own.

But Robert De Niro decided to say his piece anyway.

In a not-quite safe-for-work video published Friday, the Oscar winner took Trump to task, calling him "a punk, a dog, pig,  a con (and) a (BS) artist."

De Niro was just getting warmed up, expanding on the Trump comments he made earlier this summer.

Robert De Niro: Trump is 'totally nuts'

"He's a mutt who doesn't do his homework, doesn't care, thinks he's gaming society, doesn't pay his taxes," De Niro said, reminding voters of the $916 million loss from Trump's 1995 tax returns, which the candidate bragged about during the first debate, claiming, "that makes me smart." (After that claim, Trump's own former accountant pointed out it was he who creatively exploited the loopholes in the tax code. “I did all the tax preparation," Jack Mitnick told CNN. He never saw the product until it was presented to him for signature.”)

After quoting Colin Powell's famous hacked email that called Trump a "national disaster," De Niro did the former secretary of state one better. "He's an embarrassment to this country. It makes me so angry that this country has gotten to the point where this fool — this bozo — has wound up where he has."

Channeling his Raging Bull character, De Niro continued throwing verbal haymakers. "He talks about how he wants to punch people in the face? Well, I'd like to punch him in the face.  This is somebody that we want for president? I don't think so."

He finished with an appeal to voters about the choice facing them come Nov. 8.

"What I care about is the direction of this country," he said, his voice tinged with emotion.  "And what I'm very, very worried about is that it might go in the wrong direction with someone like Donald Trump. If you care about your future, vote for it."

Featured Weekly Ad