Trump nemesis Rosie O'Donnell joins the growing list of celebrities leaving the United States
Social Sharing
Comedian and former talk-show host Rosie O'Donnell has joined the growing list of celebrities who have talked about leaving the United States or have already left, citing the president and current political climate as reasons.
In a video posted on TikTok on Tuesday, the 62-year-old said that she had moved to Ireland on Jan. 15 and was currently in the process of getting her Irish citizenship as she has Irish grandparents.
And even though she didn't mention Trump by name, she said, "It's been heartbreaking to see what's happening politically and hard for me personally as well. The personal is political, as we all know."
The League of Their Own star described her move to Ireland saying, "It's been pretty wonderful, I have to say. The people are so loving and so kind, so welcoming. And I'm very grateful."
The mother of five went on to say, "Although I was never someone who thought I would move to another country, that's what I decided would be the best for myself and my 12-year-old child." She added that her child Clay's service dog, Kuma, made the trip as well and loves taking walks on the cliffs overlooking the Irish sea.
"I miss my other kids. I miss my friends. I miss many things about life there at home, and I'm trying to find a home here in this beautiful country," O'Donnell said. "And when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that's when we will consider coming back."
The Flintstones actress explained her brief absence from TikTok: "I just felt like we needed to take care of ourselves and make some hard decisions and follow through," she said. "And now as we're getting settled, I was ready to post this and to tell everybody what's been going on."
O'Donnell is not the only celebrity to move out of the U.S. in recent months. Personalities including Ellen DeGeneres, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Sophie Turner and James Cameron have either left or spoken about moving.
WATCH | Do more Americans want to move to Canada?
'Move to Canada' searches jumped after U.S. election. But moving isn't that easy
4 months ago
Duration 2:18
In fact, Google search data last year showed a surge in the number of Americans who were searching for information about moving to Canada following Trump's election win. Even 2SLGBTQ+ aid organization Rainbow Railroad said there was a massive spike in the number of Americans looking to leave the country immediately after Trump returned to the White House.
Long-running feud
During Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin's meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday, a reporter for Real America's Voice, a Trump-supporting news outlet, asked the Irish PM, "Ireland is known for very happy, fun loving people… why in the world would you let Rosie O'Donnell move to Ireland? I think she is going to lower your happiness level."
To this, Trump responded: "Thank you. I like that question."
And while the prime minister chuckled and seemed a bit puzzled by the question, Trump asked him, "Do you know you have Rosie O'Donnell? Do you know who she is?" before saying, "You're better off not knowing."
The president's glee at the question was just the latest in a long-running verbal feud between O'Donnell, Trump, and his supporters.
The two have been trading verbal blows going back to 2006 when O'Donnell, then host of daytime talk show The View, criticized Trump on-air following a news conference he held with Miss USA Tara Conner who was involved in an underage drinking scandal.
WATCH | White House reporter's question about O'Donnell's move to Ireland:
The White House had said in late-February that it would decide which media organizations participate in the press pool that covers the president, wresting control away from the group of journalists that has done so for decades.
"The mainstream media has been letting us all down there in America, where the fourth estate is required in order to maintain a democracy," said O'Donnell. "Here's hoping that they will get better before it's too late and here's hoping it's not too late already."
She encouraged her fans "to stand up, to use their voice, to protest, to demand that we follow the constitution in our country, and not a king, not a man and we don't have cruelty as part of our governing style."
O'Donnell also mentioned "TikTok had kind of gone a little bit dark and negative" for her with all the hate that comes through, and that she is now trying Substack.
She concluded by wishing her fans and encouraging them to turn things around and do what's right: "Protect your sanity is all I can say. Protect your sanity as much as you can and try not to swim in the chaos, if possible, but I know it's nearly impossible when you're there in the middle of it."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Winnipeg Free Press
an hour ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Trump authorizes additional 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles, US officials say
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Another 2,000 National Guard troops along with 700 Marines are headed to Los Angeles on orders Monday from President Donald Trump, escalating a military presence local officials and Gov. Gavin Newsom don't want and the police chief says creates logistical challenges for safely handling protests. An initial 2,000 Guard troops ordered by Trump started arriving Sunday, which saw the most violence during three days of protests driven by anger over Trump's stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws that critics say are breaking apart migrant families. Monday's demonstrations were far less raucous, with thousands peacefully attending a rally at City Hall and hundreds protesting outside a federal complex that includes a detention center where some immigrants are being held following workplace raids across the city. Trump has described Los Angeles in dire terms that Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom say are nowhere close to the truth. They say he is putting public safety at risk by adding military personnel even though police say they don't need the help. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement he was confident in the police department's ability to handle large-scale demonstrations and that the Marines' arrival without coordinating with the police department would present a 'significant logistical and operational challenge' for them. Newsom called the deployments reckless and 'disrespectful to our troops' in a post on the social platform X. 'This isn't about public safety,' Newsom said. 'It's about stroking a dangerous President's ego.' The protests began Friday in downtown Los Angeles after federal immigration authorities arrested more than 40 people across the city. The smell of smoke hung in the air downtown Monday, one day after crowds blocked a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire as police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades. Additional protests against immigration raids continued into the evening on Monday in several other cities including San Francisco and Santa Ana in California and Dallas and Austin in Texas. In Austin, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a post on X that more than a dozen protesters were arrested, while in Santa Ana, a spokesperson for the city's police department said the National Guard had arrived in the city to secure federal buildings. California pushes back against presence of federal troops California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit over the use of National Guard troops following the first deployment, telling reporters in his announcement Monday that Trump had 'trampled' the state's sovereignty. 'We don't take lightly to the president abusing his authority and unlawfully mobilizing California National Guard troops,' Bonta said. He sought a court order declaring Trump's use of the Guard unlawful and asking for a restraining order to halt the deployment. Trump said Monday that the city would have been 'completely obliterated' if he had not deployed the Guard. U.S. officials said the Marine troops were deployed to protect federal property and personnel, including federal immigration agents. Trump's Monday order put more National Guard members on active duty, but one U.S. official warned that the order was just signed and it could take a day or two to get troops moving. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements. Despite their presence, there has been limited engagement so far between the Guard and protesters while local law enforcement implements crowd control. Bass criticized the deployment of National Guard troops and Marines as a 'deliberate attempt' by the Trump administration to 'create disorder and chaos in our city.' She made a plea to the federal government: 'Stop the raids.' Early protests remained peaceful On Monday, thousands flooded the streets around City Hall for a union rally ahead of a hearing for arrested labor leader David Huerta, who was freed a few hours later on a $50,000 bond. Huerta's arrest on Friday while protesting immigration raids has become a rallying cry for people angry over the administration's crackdown. He is the president of the Service Employees International Union California, which represents thousands of the state's janitors, security officers and other workers. Early protests had a calm and even joyful atmosphere at times, with people dancing to live music and buoyed by Huerta's release. Protesters linked hands in front of a line of police officers outside the downtown federal detention center where Huerta was being held. Religious leaders joined the protesters, working with organizers at times to de-escalate moments of tension. There was a heavy law enforcement presence in the few square blocks including the federal detention facility, while most in the immense city of some 4 million people went about their normal business on peaceful streets. Chanting against a line of National Guard troops with Homeland Security officers behind them surrounding the federal buildings ramped up in the afternoon as people yelled, 'Free them all!' and 'National Guard go away.' As the crowd thinned, police began pushing protesters away from the area, firing crowd-control munitions as people chanted, 'Peaceful protest.' Officers became more aggressive in their tactics in the evening, occasionally surging forward to arrest protesters that got too close. At least a dozen people remaining in the busy Little Tokyo neighborhood were surrounded by police and detained. Other protests took shape Monday across LA County. Outside a Los Angeles clothing warehouse, relatives of detained workers demanded at a news conference in the morning that their loved ones be released. The family of Jacob Vasquez, 35, who was detained Friday at the warehouse, where he worked, said they had yet to receive any information about him. 'Jacob is a family man and the sole breadwinner of his household,' Vasquez's brother, Gabriel, told the crowd. He asked that his last name not be used, fearing being targeted by authorities. Several dozen people were arrested in protests throughout the weekend. Authorities say one was detained Sunday for throwing a Molotov cocktail at police and another for ramming a motorcycle into a line of officers. Guard deployment is a nearly unprecedented escalation The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's National Guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts. The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. In a directive Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.' ___ Sullivan reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Dorany Pineda in Los Angeles, Amy Taxin in Orange County, California, Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Hallie Golden in Seattle and Jake Offenhartz in New York contributed to this report.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Los Angeles' image is scuffed since ICE raids and protests, with World Cup and Olympics on horizon
LOS ANGELES (AP) — This isn't the image Los Angeles wanted projected around the globe. Clouds of tear gas wafting over a throng of protesters on a blocked freeway. Federal immigration agents in tactical garb raiding businesses in search of immigrants without legal status. A messy war of words between President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Photos captured several Waymo robotaxis set on fire and graffiti scrawled on a federal detention center building, while videos recorded the sounds of rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades hitting crowds. In a city still reeling from January's deadly wildfires — and with the World Cup soccer championships and the 2028 Olympics on the horizon — Mayor Karen Bass has been urging residents to come together to revitalize LA's image by sprucing up streets, planting trees and painting murals so LA shows its best face to nations near and far. 'It's about pride,' she's said. 'This is the city of dreams.' Instead, a less flattering side of Los Angeles has been broadcast to the world in recent days. Protests have mostly taken place in a small swath of downtown in the sprawling city of 4 million people. As Trump has activated nearly 5,000 troops to respond in the city, Bass has staunchly pushed back against his assertions that her city is overrun and in crisis. Bass, in response to Trump, said she was troubled by depictions that the city has been 'invaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals, and that now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming our federal agents. I don't know if anybody has seen that happen, but I've not seen that happen.' The series of protests began Friday outside a federal detention center, where demonstrators demanded the release of more than 40 people arrested by federal immigration authorities. Immigration advocates say the people who were detained do not have criminal histories and are being denied their due process rights. An international city Much like New York, Los Angeles is an international city that many immigrants call home. The city's official seal carries images referencing the region's time under Spanish and Mexican rule. Over 150 languages are spoken by students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. About half of the city's residents are Latino and about one-third were born outside the U.S. Bass faulted the Trump administration for creating 'a chaotic escalation' by mobilizing troops to quell protests. 'This is the last thing that our city needs,' Bass said. Los Angeles resident Adam Lerman, who has attended the protests, warned that protests would continue if the Trump administration pushes more raids in the city. 'We are talking about a new riot every day,' Lerman said. 'Everybody knows they are playing with fire.' It's not the publicity LA needs as it looks to welcome the world for international sporting events on a grand scale. 'At this stage in the process, most host cities and countries would be putting the final touches on their mega-event red carpet, demonstrating to the world that they are ready to embrace visitors with open arms,' said Jules Boykoff, a Pacific University professor who has written widely on the political and economic impacts of the Olympic Games. The scenes of conflict are 'not exactly the best way to entice the world to plan their next tourist trip to the U.S. to watch a sports mega-event.' A mayor under pressure The federal raids and protests have created another dicey political moment for Bass, who has been struggling with a budget crisis while trying to recover from political fallout from the wildfires that ignited when she was out of the country. She's been careful not to discourage protests but at the same time has pleaded for residents to remain peaceful. The mayor will likely face backlash for involving the Los Angeles Police. And she needs to fight the perception that the city is unsafe and disorderly, an image fostered by Trump, who in social media posts has depicted Bass as incompetent and said the city has been 'invaded' by people who entered the U.S. illegally. Los Angeles is sprawling — roughly 470 square miles (750 square kilometers) — and the protests were mostly concentrated downtown. 'The most important thing right now is that our city be peaceful,' Bass said. 'I don't want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the (Trump) administration.' On Monday, workers were clearing debris and broken glass from sidewalks and power-washing graffiti from buildings — among the structures vandalized was the one-time home of the Los Angeles Times across the street from City Hall. Downtown has yet to bounce back since long-running pandemic lockdowns, which reordered work life and left many office towers with high vacancy rates. Trump and California officials continued to spar online and off, faulting each other for the fallout. At the White House, Trump criticized California leaders by saying 'they were afraid of doing anything' and signaled he would support Newsom's arrest over his handling of the immigration protests. If Los Angeles' image was once defined by its balmy Mediterranean climate and the glamor of Hollywood, it's now known 'primarily for disaster,' said Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney. 'A lot of perception depends on images,' Pitney added. Right now, the dominant image 'is a burning Waymo.' ___ Associated Press writer Jason Dearen contributed.
Toronto Star
3 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Trump heads to Fort Bragg while facing criticism for deploying military at Los Angeles protests
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to speak at Fort Bragg on Tuesday to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army as he deploys the military in an attempt to quiet immigration protests in Los Angeles. Fort Bragg, located near Fayetteville, North Carolina, serves as headquarters for U.S. Army Special Operations Command. Highly trained units like the Green Berets and the Rangers are based there. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll will also be at Tuesday's event, along with service members, veterans and their families. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Trump has promoted the Army's anniversary as a reason to hold a military parade in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, which is also his 79th birthday. Tanks and other vehicles will roll down city streets in a reminder of how the Republican president is reshaping the armed forces after returning to the White House this year. Trump, who sees the military as a critical tool for domestic goals, has used the recent protests in Los Angeles as an opportunity to deploy the National Guard and U.S. Marines to quell disturbances that began as protests over immigration raids. Trump has authorized the deployment of 4,000 National Guard soldiers to the city over the objections of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom. About 700 Marines were also due to formally deploy to Los Angeles. California sued Trump over the deployment, with the state attorney general arguing that the president had 'trampled' the state's sovereignty. California leaders accused Trump of fanning protesters' anger, leading crowds to block off a major freeway and set self-driving cars on fire. 'We're gonna have troops everywhere,' Trump said over the weekend. 'We're not going to let this happen to our country.' Fort Bragg has been in the middle of a cultural tug-of-war over the military. It was named after a Confederate general, then renamed to Fort Liberty two years ago. Hegseth brought back the Bragg name, but said it was being used to honor an Army paratrooper who served in World War II.
