Trump-obsessed actor Robert De Niro appeared on The Late Show Wednesday to do his usual overwrought complaining about the president with host Stephen Colbert. While ranting about how horrible Trump was, De Niro and Colbert gushed over how great it would be if New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was president, instead.
The Late Show host joked with the actor about who he wanted to “play” in the movie that inevitably comes out in the future on this pandemic. He helpfully offered the part of Andrew Cuomo to De Niro, which caused the actor to fantasize over what it would be like to have the Democrat as president. While fawning over what a great job Cuomo is doing, the pair of course ignored the nursing home scandal Cuomo is under fire for:
DE NIRO: I guess I'll play Cuomo. I like --
COLBERT: It's a good part.
DE NIRO: Yeah, he's-- he's-- he's doing what-- what a president should do.
COLBERT: Can you see President Cuomo? Can you see that?
DE NIRO: I could see that. Yes, I could see it. I think..though, I'm for Biden and I want everything to go well with Biden, you know but at least uh, we have a person who is very capable, a very capable backup, if you will-- not vice president, but if he, something would change, which God forbid nothing will change, he would be a-- he's doing a great job. He's doing what any president should do.
The rest of the interview was dominated by the typical Trump bashing. The actor called the virus a “national tragedy” instead of worldwide problem, and confidently predicted something that’s unknowable, that the country wouldn’t have suffered as badly had Trump reacted sooner:
“We, of course, could have survived this much better if uh, idiot had done the right thing and listened and heeded all the warnings. There were many, many warnings. And we're all paying for it now. It would have been bad maybe in some ways, but never like this,” the actor asserted.
Later on, the actor who seems to thrive on hating the president, saved some insults for the Republican “enablers” who “sacrificed their souls to the devil”:
And what's scarier about it all is the Republicans and his enablers around him are not doing anything. They're around a crazy person, and they don't do anything. They're not standing up to him. They're-- as an actor, I watch this and I say this is like-- this is like Shakespeare. This is incredible. Nobody has the balls to stand up to this guy. And they all have a platform. If they went off-- because you know that's what he'll do-- hopefully he gets-- he doesn't get re-elected-- and he'll try to have some talk show or something and talk all he wants. But that's then. But now he's president. But those people could do the same thing, and they're not doing-- they're just not doing anything. It's-- it's-- what could be worth it for them to sacrifice their souls to make this deal with the devil to work with this guy? It's crazy. It's crazy.
De Niro's comments echo many bitter journalists' in the media who are hell-bent on blaming President Trump for this virus, while ignoring all of the Democrat governors' and mayors' mistakes, along the way.
Read a partial transcript below:
The Late Show
5/6/2020
STEPHEN COLBERT: When this is all over, clearly, there's going to be a movie about this.
ROBERT DE NIRO: Yes.
COLBERT: If there are ever movies again, there will be a movie about this. Who do you want to play? Can't say Fauci because Fauci has already been taken by Brad Pitt.
DE NIRO: Yeah, yes, he --
COLBERT: Cuomo?
DE NIRO: I guess I'll play Cuomo. I like --
COLBERT: It's a good part.
DE NIRO: Yeah, he's-- he's-- he's doing what-- what a president should do.
COLBERT: Can you see President Cuomo? Can you see that?
DE NIRO: I could see that. Yes, I could see it. I think..though, I'm for Biden and I want everything to go well with Biden, you know but at least uh, we have a person who is very capable, a very capable backup, if you will-- not vice president, but if he, something would change, which God forbid nothing will change, he would be a-- he's doing a great job. He's doing what any president should do.
COLBERT: Yeah. And-- and what New York deserves. What the world deserves. But it's-- he seems like a very-- like, he's a real New York governor.
…..
DE NIRO: This is a national tragedy. It's a national --
COLBERT: It's a global tragedy.
DE NIRO: Global, yeah. But there are-- as he says, New Yorkers will get through it. And, of course, we will. And pandemics have been in the world before, and people survived them. We, of course, could have survived this much better if uh, idiot had done the right thing and listened and heeded all the warnings. There were many, many warnings. And we're all paying for it now. It would have been bad maybe in some ways, but never like this.
….
DE NIRO: Yeah, it's-- it's nuts. It's crazy. It's crazy. I have no words for it anymore. I just am completely nonplussed, dumbfounded, confounded. I don't know what this guy-- it's crazy. And what's scarier about it all is the Republicans and his enablers around him are not doing anything. They're around a crazy person, and they don't do anything. They're not standing up to him. They're-- as an actor, I watch this and I say this is like-- this is like Shakespeare. This is incredible. Nobody has the balls to stand up to this guy. And they all have a platform. If they went off-- because you know that's what he'll do-- hopefully he gets-- he doesn't get re-elected-- and he'll try to have some talk show or something and talk all he wants. But that's then. But now he's president. But those people could do the same thing, and they're not doing-- they're just not doing anything. It's-- it's-- what could be worth it for them to sacrifice their souls to make this deal with the devil to work with this guy? It's crazy. It's crazy.
