In a surprising twist in their long-standing feud, former President Donald Trump has expressed intentions to potentially revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship. This latest development has reignited the decades-long rivalry between Trump and the comedian, once again drawing attention to their contentious interactions that have sparked controversies over the years. With Trump’s remarks attributed to his Truth Social platform, the implications of his threats and O’Donnell’s responses raise questions about free speech and the boundaries of political discourse.
President Donald Trump reignited a decades-long feud with comedian Rosie O’Donnell Saturday, taking to his Truth Social platform to write he was considering revoking her citizenship.
“Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship,” Trump wrote. “She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”
Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at Georgetown Law, responded on Saturday, emphasizing that Trump’s threat of “coercive expatriation” is “patently unconstitutional.”
“For good reasons, it is difficult to denaturalize a U.S. citizen and even harder to expatriate one,” Vladeck highlighted. “Congress has provided for only a handful of circumstances in which the executive branch is empowered to pursue such a move; and the Supreme Court has recognized meaningful constitutional limits (and an entitlement to meaningful judicial review) even in those cases.”
CNN reached out to the White House to uncover what prompted the president’s latest threat. However, O’Donnell had been in the spotlight recently after she shared a video on TikTok critiquing the Trump administration’s response to the catastrophic Texas floods. She claimed that the administration “gut(ted) all of the early warning systems and the weathering‑forecast abilities of the government,” hampering the federal response.
O’Donnell, who was born in America, moved to Ireland just before Trump’s inauguration in January. In an interview with CNN earlier this year, she expressed that Trump’s potential reelection was a major factor in her decision. “I knew after reading Project 2025 that if Trump got in, it was time for me and my nonbinary child to leave the country,” she told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown. “I have no regrets. Not a day has gone by that I thought it was the wrong decision. I was welcomed with open arms.”
In a spirited response to Trump’s social media post, O’Donnell took to Instagram declaring, “you want to revoke my citizenship? go ahead and try, king joffrey with a tangerine spray tan. i’m not yours to silence. i never was.”
On Sunday, during an interview with Ireland’s RTÉ Radio 1, she escalated her criticism, labeling Trump “a danger to the world.” She elaborated, “I am very proud to be opposed to every single thing he says and does and represents. I think he’s a racist and he’s misogynistic and he’s sexist.”
Concerning Trump’s threats regarding her citizenship, O’Donnell remarked, “I know he can’t do that, but the Supreme Court has given him unbridled powers, and who knows what he can and can’t do.”
She continued, “He shouldn’t be allowed to be doing what he is to immigrants in the United States without due process, but he’s doing it anyway. This is not America. This is not democracy.”
The animosity between Trump and O’Donnell dates back to at least 2006 when O’Donnell, then co-hosting “The View,” accused Trump of being a “snake-oil salesman” and questioned his financial integrity, which Trump refuted. Over the years, Trump has also referred to O’Donnell using terms like “a real loser,” “crude, rude, obnoxious, and dumb,” and “a pig.”
CNN’s Billy Stockwell contributed to this report.
