July 12, 2025

"Go Back Where You Came From" - Trump vs. Rosie O'Donnell

"Go Back Where You Came From" - Trump vs. Rosie O'Donnell

Nineteen years after Rosie O'Donnell called Trump a "snake-oil salesman" on The View, their feud just went nuclear. When the President of the United States threatened to revoke her citizenship, calling her a "threat to humanity," O'Donnell unleashed scorched earth revenge: Jeffrey Epstein client list accusations, sexual abuse allegations, and the most savage takedown in political history. From a 2006 Miss USA scandal to constitutional crisis, this is the story of how five minutes of truth-telling became two decades of presidential obsession. Some criticism gets you blocked on Twitter. This criticism got her exiled from America—and made Trump look like "King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan."

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Callarogashark media. Welcome back to feuds, power, pride, and payback.

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I'm Marcus Reid. Some feuds burn hot and fast, exploding

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in spectacular fashion before fading into memory. Others simmer for years,

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occasionally flaring up before settling back into cold resentment. But

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very few feuds burn with the sustained intensity of a

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supernova for nearly two decades, growing more vicious and personal

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with each passing year. This is the story of such

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a feud. It began in December two thousand and six

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with a five minute segment on a daytime talk show.

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It escalated through presidential debates, social media wars, and personal

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attacks that grew increasingly cruel and bizarre, and yesterday, July twelfth,

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twenty twenty five, it reached a new level of constitutional

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absurdity when the President of the United States threatened to

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revoke the see citizenship of an American born comedian who

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dared to criticize him nineteen years ago. This is the

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story of Donald Trump versus Rosy O'Donnell, a feud that

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has somehow managed to survive three presidential campaigns, two presidencies,

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countless twitter wars, and one international relocation. It's a feud

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that began with a beauty pageant controversy and has now

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escalated to deportation threats against a US citizen. It's a

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feud that perfectly encapsulates everything toxic about our modern political culture,

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where personal vendettas become matters of national security and childhood

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bullying tactics become presidential policy. From a miss USA scandal

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to Jeffrey Epstein allegations, from snake oil salesman to threat

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to humanity. This is the story of how a single

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moment of truth telling on The View became a decades

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long war that now threatens the very foundations of American citizenship.

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Some feuds are about money, Some are about power. This

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one is about something much more dangerous. What happens when

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the most powerful man in the world can never let

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anything go. This is Episode fifteen, Revoke This Act one,

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The View that started it all. December twelfth, two thousand

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and six, Rosy O'Donnell was eight months into her tenure

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as moderator of ABC's The View, the daytime talk show

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that had become appointment television for its willingness to tackle

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controversial topics. On this particular morning, the Hot Topics segment

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was focused on a story that had dominated entertainment headlines

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for weeks, the scandal surrounding Miss USA winner Tara Connor. Connor,

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the twenty year old winner from Kentucky, had been caught

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up in allegations of drug use, underage drinking, and sexual misconduct.

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Under normal circumstances, such behavior would have resulted in the

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immediate stripping of her crown. But these weren't normal circumstances.

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The Miss USA pageant was owned by Donald Trump, and

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Trump had decided to give Connor a second chance. At

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a press conference that had all the pomp and circumstance

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of a state dinner, Trump announced his decision to let

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Connor keep her crown. I've always been a believer in

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second chances, he declared magnanimously. Tara is a good person,

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Tara has tried hard. Tara is going to be given

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a second chance. To most observers, it was a typical

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Trump publicity stunt, a way to generate headlines and position

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himself as both a stern moral authority and a benevolent

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father figure. But Rosie O'Donnell saw something else, entirely breathtaking

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hypocrisy from a man whose own moral record was hardly spotless.

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He annoys me on a multitude of levels. O'donald said,

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her voice building with indignation. He's the moral authority left

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the first wife had an affair, left the second wife

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had an affair, had kids both times. But he's the

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moral compass for twenty year olds in America. Donald, sit

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and spin, my friend. But O'Donnell wasn't finished. In front

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of a national television audience, she delivered what would become

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the opening salvo in a nineteen year war. He's the

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snake oil salesman on little house on the prairie. This

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is not a self made man. This is not a

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person who inherited nothing and created an empire. She then

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went on to discuss Trump's multiple bankruptcies, his business failures,

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and what she saw as his fundamentally fraudulent public persona.

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It was devastating, personal and absolutely accurate. It was also

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something that Donald Trump would never ever forgive. The special

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guest on that episode of the view was Senator Hillary Clinton,

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who watched the entire exchange with what must have been fascination.

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Neither Clinton nor O'Donnell could have imagined that they were

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witnessing the birth of a feud that would eventually intersect

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with presidential politics constitutional law. Trump's response was swift and vicious.

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Within days, he was calling into television shows and giving

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interviews to any outlet that would have him. His attacks

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on O'Donnell were personal, cruel, and relentless. Rosie is a

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very unattractive person, both inside and out, he told Entertainment Tonight.

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To People magazine, he was even more explicit, Rosie will

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rue the words she said. I'll most likely sue her

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for making those false statements, and it'll be fun. Rosie's

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a loser, a real loser. I look forward to taking

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lots of money from my nice, fat little Rosie. He

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called her a woman out of control, a total disaster,

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and a degenerate. He appeared on Larry King Live to

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call her a horrible human being, a terrible person, and

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told The New York Post that she was an extremely

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unattractive person who doesn't understand the truth. She's a bully,

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and she sucker punches people. For weeks, Trump turned his

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entire media operation into an anti Rosie campaign. Every interview,

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every statement, every public appearance became an opportunity to attack

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a comedian who had dared to tell the truth about

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his business record and moral character. What Trump didn't understand,

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what he has never understood, is that his response proved

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O'Donnell's point better than any argument she could have made.

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She had called him a bully and a fraud, and

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he had responded by being a bully and a fraud.

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But this was only the beginning. What started as a

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five minute television segment was about to become the most

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enduring and bitter personal feud in modern American politics, Act

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two the presidential ambitions. For nearly a decade, the Trump

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o'donald fud simmered in the background of celebrity culture. They

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traded barbes on social media, with true Trump using every

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opportunity to insult O'Donnell's appearance, relationships in personal struggles. When

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O'Donnell got engaged to Michelle Rounds in twenty eleven, Trump

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tweeted that he felt sorry for Round's parents. When O'Donnell

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opened up about her weight loss journey in twenty fourteen,

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Trump called her not politically correct for speaking publicly about it.

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O'Donnell later described this period as probably the Trump stuff

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was the most bullying I ever experienced in my life,

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including as a child, But she fought back, using her

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platform to highlight Trump's failures and contradictions. Then in twenty fifteen,

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everything changed. Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president of

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the United States, and suddenly their personal feud became a

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matter of national political importance. The moment that crystallized this

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transformation came during the first Republican presidential debate on August sixth,

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twenty fifteen. Fox News moderator Megan Kelly asked Trump appointed

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question about his history of making derogatory comments about women,

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specifically mentioning his use of terms like fat pigs, dogs, slobs,

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and disgusting animals. Trump's response was immediate, in telling only

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rosy O'Donnell. The audience gasped, then erupted in a mixture

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of applause and nervous laughter. It was a moment that

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perfectly captured Trump's political strategy, never apologize, always attack, and

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turn every criticism into an opportunity for counterattack. But it

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was also something more significant. For the first time in

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American political history, a presidential candidate had used a national

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debate stage to continue a personal feud with a comedian

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it was unprecedented, unpresidential and absolutely typical of Donald Trump.

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O'Donnell watched the debate from her home and was genuinely shocked.

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I was like, did he just say my name in

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a presidential debate? She later recalled, it was surreal. The

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feud became a regular feature of Trump's campaign. During a

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debate with Hillary Clinton in September twenty sixteen, he again

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brought up O'Donnell. Unprompted, Rosie O'Donnell has been very vicious

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to me. I said very tough things to her, and

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I think everybody would agree she deserves it and nobody

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feels sorry for her. O'Donnell responded on Twitter by calling

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Trump an Orange anis and posting the original two thousand

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and six view segment that had started their feud, writing,

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tell the Truth, Shame the Donald, hashtag I'm with her.

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But as Trump's political fortunes rose, O'Donnell's situation became increasingly precarious.

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She wasn't just feuding with a reality TV star anymore.

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She was feuding with someone who might actually become president

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of the United States. When Trump won the election in

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November twenty sixteen, O'Donnell was devastated. God help us all,

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she tweeted. In interviews, she spoke about her genuine fear

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of what a Trump presidency might mean for her personally.

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I seriously worry whether I personally will be able to

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live through his presidency and whether the nation will be

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able to survive, she told w magazine in twenty seventeen.

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It's a terrifying concept on the brink of nuclear war

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with a madman in charge. For four years, O'Donnell became

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one of Trump's most vocal celebrity critics, using her social

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media platforms to attack his policies and character. She attended

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protests outside the White House and used her public appearances

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to call for his removal from office. But through it all,

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Trump never forgot about Rosy O'Donnell. Even as president, dealing

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with international crises and domestic challenges, he found time to

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tweet about their decade old feud. She had gotten under

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his skin in a way that few people ever had,

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and he simply could not let it go. The stage

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was set for an even more dramatic escalation Act three,

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Exile and Escalation when Donald Trump won the twenty twenty

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four election and prepared to begin his second term as president,

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Rosie O'Donnell made a decision that would have seemed unthinkable

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to most Americans. She left the country. In January twenty

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twenty five. O'Donnell relocated to Ireland with her twelve year

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old child, who has autism. The move wasn't just about politics,

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it was about survival. I knew after reading Project twenty

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twenty five that if Trump got in it was time

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for me and my non binary child to leave the country,

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O'Donnell explained in a March interview. I have no regrets.

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Not a day has gone by that I thought it

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was the wrong decision. I was welcomed with open arms.

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The decision was driven by both political and personal concerns.

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O'Donnell worried about the impact of Trump's policies on special

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needs children, particularly the potential dismantling of federal education programs

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that her autistic child depended on. But she also worried

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about something more basic, her own safety in a country

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where the president had spent years encouraging his followers to

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view her as an enemy. I look at America and

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I feel overwhelmingly depressed, O'Donnell said in July twenty twenty five,

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I believe fascism has taken a foothold in the United States.

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From her new home in Ireland, O'Donnell continued to criticize

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Trump's policies, particularly his administration's cuts to environmental and weather

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forecasting agencies. When devastating floods struck Texas on July fourth,

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twenty twenty five, killing at least one hundred twenty people,

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O'Donnell posted a TikTok video blaming Trump's budget cuts for

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the inadequate warning systems. What a horror story in Texas,

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she said. And you know, when the president guts all

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the early warning systems and the weathering forecast abilities of

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the government, these are the results that we're going to

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start to see on a daily basis. It was a

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typical O'Donnell critique, direct political and focused on policy rather

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than personality. But for Trump, still nursing grievances from two

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thousand and six, it was the final straw. On Saturday morning,

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July twelfth, twenty twenty five, Trump posted a message on

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truth Social that would make constitutional history for all the

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wrong reasons. Because of the fact that Rosy O'Donnell is

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not in the best interests of our great country. I

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am giving serious consideration to taking away her citizenship. She

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is a threat to humanity and should remain in the

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wonderful country of Ireland if they want her. God bless America.

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The post was remarkable for several reasons. First, it was

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constitutionally impossible. The president has no legal authority to revoke

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the citizenship of a natural born American citizen. Second, it

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represented an unprecedented escalation in the use of immigration threats

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against political opponents. And third, it revealed that after nineteen years,

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Trump was still so consumed with his hatred for Rosie

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O'Donnell that he was willing to make himself look foolish

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and authoritarian just to attack her. But O'Donnell's response would

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prove that she hadn't been intimidated by years of presidential harassment.

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If anything, distance and perspective had only sharpened her ability

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to strike back. Act four Scorched Earth. Rosie O'Donnell's response

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to Trump's citizenship threat was unlike anything she had posted before.

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Over the course of nearly a dozen social media posts

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on Saturday afternoon, she launched what can only be described

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as a scorched Earth campaign against the president. First came

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the personal response, Hey Donald, you're rattled again eighteen years later,

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and I still live rent free in that collapsing brain

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of yours. You call me a threat to humanity. I'm

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everything you fear, a loud woman, a queer woman, a

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mother who tells the truth, an American who got out

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of the country before you said it a blaze. But

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then O'Donnell escalated in ways that shocked even her supporters.

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She posted a compilation titled thirty plus Years of Sexual

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Abuse the Known Victims, featuring a photo of Trump alongside

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a list of women who have accused him of sexual

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misconduct dating back to the nineteen eighties. She shared photomontages

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of Trump with Jeffrey Epstein and Gislaine Maxwell, including one

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that featured a fake truth social post from Trump pleading

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stop talking about Epstein. In another post, she shared a

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photoshopped image of Trump wearing a red Maga hat that

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read I'm on the list, referring to Epstein's alleged client list.

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Perhaps most provocatively, O'Donnell posted artwork depicting Trump with a

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simple caption he rapes. She shared tweets suggesting that Trump

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was spending more energy attacks acting her then investigating actual pedophiles.

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She directly accused Trump of being on Epstein's client list

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and suggested he had been a guest at Epstein's infamous island.

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The attacks were relentless, personal and designed to hit Trump

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where she knew it would hurt most, his carefully constructed

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image and his obvious anxiety about the Epstein allegations that

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have dogged him for years. The President of the USA

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has always hated the fact that I see him for

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who he is, a criminal, con man, sexual, abusing liar

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out to harm our nation to serve himself. O'Donnell wrote,

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he is a dangerous, old, soulless man with dementia who

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lacks empathy, compassion, and basic humanity. But perhaps the most

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powerful moment came in her direct response to the citizenship threat.

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You crave loyalty. I teach my children to question power,

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you self fear on golf courses. I make art about

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surviving trauma. You lie, you steal, you degrade, I nurture,

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I create, I persist. You are everything that is wrong

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with America, and I'm everything you hate about what's still

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right with it. You want to revoke my citizenship. Go

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ahead and try King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan,

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I'm not yours to silence. I never was. The King

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Jeoffrey reference was particularly cutting a comparison to the sadistic

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boy king from Game of Thrones, who was universally hated

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for his cruelty and incompetence. But O'Donnell's assault had an

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unexpected effect. It forced Trump into a defensive position he

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rarely occupies. Instead of his usual pattern of escalating attacks,

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Trump found himself trying to deflect attention away from the

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Epstein allegations and toward other topics. In a sprawling truth

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social post Saturday evening, Trump tried to dismiss the renewed

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attention on Jeffrey Epstein, calling it a distraction orchestrated by

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his political enemies, and insisting the so called Epstein files

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were part of a smear campaign all over a guy

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who never dies, Jeffrey Epstein. Trump wrote, complaining that selfish

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people were damaging his perfect administration by focusing on the

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late sex offender. He accused Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, James Comey,

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John Brennan, and the losers and criminals of the Biden

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administration of fabricating Epstein documents. Why didn't these radical left

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lunatics release the Epstein files? He asked, If there was

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anything in there that could have hurt the MAGA movement,

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why didn't they use it? It was a telling response.

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For once, Trump was the one trying to change the subject.

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For once, he was the one being forced to deny

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and deflect rather than attack. Rosie O'Donnell had managed to

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do something that very few of Trump's opponents had ever accomplished.

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She had put him on the defensive. But the constitutional

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implications of Trump's citizenship threat were too serious to be

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overshadowed by social media drama. Act five constitutional crisis in

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legal reality. While Trump and O'Donnell traded increasingly vicious attacks

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on social media, legal experts were raising alarm bells about

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the unprecedented nature of the president's citizenship threat. Trump threatens

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to revoke Rosy O'Donnell's citizenship. This is to distract from

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Jeffrey Epstein file, tweeted comedian and lawyer Dian Obidala. Trump

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is panicking that pressure is building to release the file.

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But beyond the political motivations, Trump's threat raised serious constitutional questions.

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Legal scholars were quick to point out that the president

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simply doesn't have the authority to revoke the citizenship of

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a natural born American. The president has no authority to

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take away the citizenship of a native born US citizen.

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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia

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School of Law, explained, in short, we are nation founded

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on the principle that the people choose the god government.

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The government cannot choose the people. The Supreme Court had

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settled this question definitively in the nineteen sixty seven case

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afro Yim versus Rusk, ruling that the Fourteenth Amendment prevents

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the government from taking away citizenship without an individual's consent.

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The only exceptions involved cases of fraud in the naturalization process,

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which wouldn't apply to O'Donnell, who was born in New York.

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CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck called Trump's threat patently unconstitutional,

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explaining that it is difficult to denaturalize a US citizen

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and even harder to expatriate one. But Trump's citizenship threat

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wasn't occurring in isolation. It was part of a broader

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pattern of using immigration enforcement as a weapon against political opponents.

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Just weeks earlier, Trump had threatened Elon Musk with deportation

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after their spectacular falling out. Steve Bannon had called for

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must to be deported as an illegal alien. Trump had

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also questioned the citizenship status of New York City's Democratic

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mayoral nominee, Zoron Mamdani. The pattern was clear. Trump was

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systematically threatening to use immigration law against anyone who opposed him,

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regardless of their actual citizenship status or legal standing. It

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represented a fundamental assault on the principle that citizenship provides

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protection from political persecution. Immigration lawyers were particularly concerned about

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the precedent being set. It sounds like mister Musk may

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need an attorney soon. Vanessa Dodacis Torres of the American

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Immigration Lawyers Association, had joked about the muss threats, but

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the joke highlighted a serious point. If Trump was willing

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to threaten deportation against the world's richest man and a

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famous comedian, what would stop him from targeting ordinary citizens

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who criticized his administration. The threats also revealed something important

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about Trump's psychological state after decades in public life. In

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two terms, as president. He was still so personal wounded

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by criticism that he was willing to make constitutionally impossible

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threats just to lash out at his critics. Eighteen years later,

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and I still live rent free in that collapsing brain

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of yours, O'Donnell had written, and the evidence suggested she

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was absolutely right. The most powerful man in the world

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was spending his week in obsessing over a comedian who

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had criticized him in two thousand and six. But there

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was a darker implication to Trump's threats. While he couldn't

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actually revoke O'Donnell's citizenship, he could make her life difficult

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in other ways. He could use federal agencies to harass her.

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He could encourage his supporters to target her. He could

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use his presidential platform to continue the bullying campaign he

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had waged for nearly two decades. And that raised the

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most disturbing question of all. What happens to democracy when

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the president uses the full power of the federal government

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to settle personal scores. Epilogue The Price of Never Letting Go.

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As we record this episode on July thirteen, twenty twenty five,

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just one day after Trump's citizenship threat, the Trump o'donnald

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feud continues to dominate headlines and social media discussions, but

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this latest escalation has transformed their personal conflict into something

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much larger, a test case for the limits of presidential

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power and the durability of American citizenship rights. The feud

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that began with a five minute television segment has now

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lasted longer than some wars. It has survived three presidential campaigns,

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two Trump presidencies, countless news cycles, and one international relocation.

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It has evolved from entertainment gossip to constitutional crisis, from

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personal insults to threats of statelessness. But what makes this

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feud truly remarkable is in its longevity or its escalation.

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It's what it reveals about the person involved in the

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political system they inhabit. For Trump, the O'Donnell feud represents

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everything that drives his political behavior. An inability to let

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go of perceived slights, a need to dominate and humiliate

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his critics, and a willingness to use whatever power he

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possesses to settle personal scores. The fact that he's still

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obsessing over a two thousand and six television segment while

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serving as president of the United States says everything you

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need to know about his priorities in psychological makeup. For O'Donnell,

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the feud has evolved from a moment of political commentary

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into a defining feature of her public life. Her decision

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to leave the country rather than endure four more years

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of presidential harassment speaks to the very real personal cost

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of opposing Trump, but her willingness to fight back with

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equal ferocity shows that she hasn't been intimidated by years

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of attacks from the most powerful man in the world.

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The constitutional implications of Trump's citizenship threat extend far beyond

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this particular feud. If a president can threaten to revoke

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citizenship based on political opposition, then citizenship itself becomes contingent

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on political loyalty. That's not democracy, that's authoritarianism with American characteristics.

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Legal experts are now calling for congressional hearings into Trump's

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pattern of immigration threats against political opponents. Some are suggesting

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that threatening to revoke citizenship could itself be grounds for impeachment.

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Others are warning that Trump's threats could inspire similar actions

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by state and local officials against their own political enemies.

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But perhaps the most important lesson of the Trump O'Donnell

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feud is what it tells us about the importance of

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calling out powerful people when they abuse their authority. O'Donnell's

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original two thousand and six critique of Trump was devastating

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precisely because it was accurate. She called him a fraud,

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a bully, and a snake oil salesman. Nineteen years later,

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with Trump threatening to revoke her citizenship for continuing to

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tell the truth about him, her assessment looks remarkably prescient.

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The price O'Donnell has paid for that moment of truth

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telling has been enormous years of harassment, death threats, and

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ultimately exile from her own country. But she has also

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demonstrated something crucial that some things are worth fighting for,

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even when the cost is high. As for Trump, his

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obsession with O'Donnell has become a perfect metaphor for his

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entire approach to politics in life. He cannot forgive, he

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cannot forget, and he cannot let go. Every slight must

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be avenged, every critic must be destroyed, Every moment of

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embarrassment must be relitigated for decades. This is the man

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who currently serves as President of the United States. This

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is the person who controls the federal government's immigration enforcement apparatus.

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This is the individual who has access to the full

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power of the American state. The Trump o'donnald feud isn't

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really about Trump and O'Donnell anymore. It's about what kind

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of country we want to be. Do we want to

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be a nation where citizenship depends on political loyalty. Do

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we want to be a democracy where criticism of the

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president results in threats of exile? Do we want to

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be a society where personal vendettas become matters of national policy.

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These are the questions that will define not just this feud,

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but this moment in American history, and the answers we

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give will determine whether democracy survives the age of Trump.

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Some feuds are about money, some are about power. The

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Trump o'donald feud is about something much more fundamental, whether

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truth telling will be tolerated in America and whether citizenship

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means anything more than conditional permission to stay in the

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country where you were born. Nineteen years after Rosy O'Donnell

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called Donald Trump a snake oil salesman on the view

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he's using the presidency to try to prove her right

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The only question now is whether the rest of us

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will let him get away with it. I'm Marcus Reid.

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Thanks for listening to feuds, power, pride, and payback. Some

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feuds end with forgiveness, others end with constitutional crises. This

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one isn't over yet. Next time, we'll be exploring another

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feud that's exploded into headlines this week, one that's torn

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apart Hollywood's most powerful agencies and revealed the dark side

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of celebrity representation. Until then, remember, in the game of power,

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there are no permanent enemies and no permanent allies, only

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permanent grudges that never die.