Robert De Niro Gets Emotional Urging Americans To Resist Trump

Robert De Niro has made no secret about what he thinks of Donald Trump, but he got very emotional about the state of the US under the presidentduring an interview with MS NOW’s Nicolle Wallace on Monday.

“The story is our country, and Trump is destroying it, and who knows what his reasons are, but it’s sick, it’s fucked up,” De Niro said. “We have to save this country.”

Toward the end of the interview, De Niro seemed on the verge of tears when Wallace asked him why he makes a point of thanking the people who work for him at awards shows.

“You have to — you have to lift people up,” the actor said, with his voice starting to crack, before explaining, “You have to bring them together. You can’t divide people, you can’t win that way.”

Things got emotional as De Niro pivoted back to discussing Trump’s divisive presidency.

“It’s a no-win situation, and look what we have, look who we have there, it’s almost like a destiny to have this thing there, destroying… attempting to destroy this country and maybe not even understanding why. So it’s up to us to protect the country,” he said.

“You weren’t supposed to make me cry,” Wallace told De Niro before she noted that the US seems to be facing a moment where things could go “one way or the other” — a seeming reference to whether the country’s democratic traditions continue. She asked point-blank: “You think it’s going the other way?”

De Niro admitted he didn’t know for sure.

“All I know is people have to have to resist, resist, resist,” he said. “There’s no easy way. It’s not going to come to you easy. You know, there’s a time when you know in your own life and your own survival, you better do this. You better jump and run through the fire because if you don’t run through the fire, you’re not getting out, and that’s what we have to do.”

De Niro has been a big critic of Trump over the years, and explained why in an interview last May.

“The man is a bully, and you can’t let bullies win. If a bully comes for your lunch money on Monday, he’s going to ask for more on Tuesday. You have to stand up. And I wouldn’t want to look at myself if I didn’t,” he told The Guardian.