Robert De Niro calls Donald Trump ‘a real racist’ and a ‘con artist’

Robert De Niro has unleashed another volley of criticism against President Donald Trump.

The celebrated actor branded him as a buffoon, con artist, huckster, scam artist, fascist, racist and white supremacist in an interview with The Guardian.

De Niro, 75, who last year was among several high profile critics of the US president to have been sent a pipe bomb from a Trump supporter, said: “I’m older now and I’m just upset about what’s going on.

“When you see someone like (Trump) becoming president, I thought, well, OK, let’s see what he does – maybe he’ll change. But he just got worse. It showed me that he is a real racist. I thought maybe as a New Yorker he understands the diversity in the city but he’s as bad as I thought he was before – and much worse. It’s a shame. It’s a bad thing in this country.”

The two-time Oscar winner counts hit films such as Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Godfather Part II and The Untouchables among the highlights of a long successful career.

Before the Trump presidency, he had a reputation as being a man of few words off-screen.

When asked if the president was a white supremacist, De Niro told The Guardian: “Yes.”

Asked if Mr Trump is a fascist, the actor replied: “I guess that’s what it leads to. If he had his way, we’d wind up in a very bad state in this country. I mean, the way I understand it, they laughed at Hitler. They all look funny. Hitler looked funny, Mussolini looked funny and other dictators and despots look funny.”

He also said that Mr Trump is “all smoke and mirrors,” adding: “He’s a con artist. He’s a huckster. He’s a scam artist. And what bothers me is that people don’t see that.”

It is the latest blast in the feud between the two men.

Mr Trump tweeted in June 2018: “Robert De Niro, a very Low IQ individual, has received too many shots to the head by real boxers in movies. I watched him last night and truly believe he may be punch-drunk.”