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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