Recovering from COVID-19, the Killers of the Flower Moon star wrote down his feelings and had ex-Trump administration official Miles Taylor read them at the New York City gathering.
De Niros basic message: Trumps not bad, hes evil. And the film legend delivered it eloquently with a nod to his career playing several hoodlums and meeting a few real ones.
Ive spent a lot of time studying bad men. Ive examined their characteristics, their mannerisms, the utter banality of their cruelty, De Niro said in the statement. Yet theres something different about Donald Trump. When I look at him, I dont see a bad man. Truly. I see an evil one.
De Niro continued, Hes a wannabe tough guy with no morals or ethics. No sense of right or wrong. No regard for anyone but himself not the people he was supposed to lead and protect.
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The Oscar winning-actor, one of the entertainment industrys mostpersistent Trump critics , warned of the repercussions of the four-times-indicted ex-president winning back the White House in 2024.
Democracy wont survive the return of a wannabe dictator, De Niro said. And it wont overcome evil if we are divided.
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He wrote that the solution to bridging the gap is reaching out to Trump supporters.
Theyre not stupid, and we must not condemn them for making a stupid choice, he said. Our future doesnt just depend on us. It depends on them.
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Fast-forward to 6:33:00 for De Niros remarks:
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