Rosie O’Donnell Reveals Why She Gets Under Trump’s Skin

Comic Fires Back From Ireland: “I Still Live Rent-Free in That Collapsing Brain”

President Donald Trump is once again targeting one of his oldest and most outspoken critics—comedian and actress Rosie O’Donnell—with a threat that experts say crosses a constitutional line and echoes the rhetoric of authoritarian regimes.

On Saturday, Trump suggested on Truth Social that he was giving “serious consideration” to revoking O’Donnell’s U.S. citizenship, an act that would violate the Fourteenth Amendment. The shocking claim came just hours after O’Donnell slammed the administration’s widely criticized response to the devastating Texas floods, which have claimed over 129 lives.

“She is a Threat to Humanity,” Trump posted. “She should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her.”

O’Donnell—now living part-time in Ireland—responded with trademark fire, posting an image of Trump alongside accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein and writing, “Hey donald – you’re rattled again? 18 years later and I still live rent-free in that collapsing brain of yours.”

In an interview Sunday with Ireland’s RTÉ Radio 1, O’Donnell reflected on why she still seems to strike a nerve with the president. “I think I remind him of all the kids in school who never liked him,” she said. “I’m a tough New York tomboy girl—and his crap never flew with me. It didn’t fly with New Yorkers, period.”

Both Trump and O’Donnell grew up in the New York metro area, but their worldviews couldn’t be further apart. O’Donnell said she left the U.S. for Ireland in 2023 for “self-preservation,” but she still fiercely believes in the American ideals that Trump, in her words, “actively tries to dismantle.”

“I still believe this country can be a beacon of hope and freedom,” she said. “But not until we tell the truth about who we are—and what Donald Trump really is.”

The White House, in a statement to The Daily Beast, mocked O’Donnell’s comments. Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson claimed the comedian was suffering from “late-stage Trump Derangement Syndrome” and added, “Thank goodness she’s no longer in the United States.”

Trump and O’Donnell’s feud dates back nearly two decades to a 2006 episode of The View, where O’Donnell ripped into Trump’s defense of a scandal-plagued Miss USA contestant. Trump responded with threats of lawsuits, and the hostility hasn’t let up. In his first presidential debate in 2015, Trump was asked about his history of insulting women. “Only Rosie O’Donnell,” he quipped.

O’Donnell says she’s in good company, standing alongside celebrities like Robert De Niro and Taylor Swift, who’ve also become frequent targets of Trump’s rage.

“He’s afraid of artists,” she said Sunday. “Of anyone who doesn’t bow to him. That’s what this is really about—control.”

Legal scholars were quick to condemn Trump’s threat. “The idea of revoking someone’s citizenship because they criticized the president is not just unconstitutional—it’s authoritarian,” said Harvard Law professor Martha Delaney. “This kind of rhetoric has no place in a functioning democracy.”

O’Donnell says she won’t be intimidated. “He wants to silence dissent. But I’ve got news for him—I’ve never been afraid of bullies.”