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Donald Trump threatens to revoke Rosie O'Donnell's citizenship — but he can't

Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell
Trump: ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images; O'Donnell: MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump and Rosie O'Donnell

O'Donnell responded fiercely.

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Donald Trump wants to revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s citizenship — but under the Constitution, he can’t do that.

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Trump has had a long-running feud with the lesbian comic and actress, who is an American-born citizen — she was born in Commack, on New York’s Long Island. He escalated it Saturday with a post on Truth Social reading, “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship. She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

O’Donnell moved her family to Ireland this year, saying she would not consider returning to the U.S. until it is a safer place. She responded to Trump’s threat with a TikTok post: “the potus ladies n gentlemen is a disgrace to all our beautiful country stands for — he is a danger to the nation — a mentally ill untreated criminal who lied to america for a decade on the apprentice — thanks mark burnett — and u fell for it — its so tragic — had u grown up in Ny — as i did and he did — u too would know what a total fool he is — add me to the list of people who oppose him at every turn — its now or never america 🇺🇸 — my little posts from dublin upset him — go arrest a few brown people u truly evil man child.”

O'Donnell also posted on Instagram, with a picture of Trump and sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, "hey donald — you’re rattled again? 18 years later and I still live rent-free in that collapsing brain of yours. you call me a threat to humanity — but I’m everything you fear: a loud woman a queer woman a mother who tells the truth an american who got out of the country b4 u set it ablaze."

Related: Rosie O'Donnell: 'Donald Trump Is Mentally Unstable'
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Under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the president cannot revoke the citizenship of anyone born or naturalized here. The amendment reads, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.”

Trump, however, has tried to revoke birthright citizenship, aiming particularly at children born to certain immigrants in the U.S. Courts have blocked his executive order to this effect, but recently the U.S. Supreme Court limited the power of judges to issue nationwide injunctions against presidential actions, and the justices would have let the order become effective July 27 in certain parts of the U.S. — if not for a new nationwide injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante Thursday, which granted class action status to all children who would have been denied birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court’s limit on nationwide injunctions still allows them in class action suits.

Trump’s feud with O’Donnell goes back a couple of decades. In a 2016 presidential debate between Trump and Hillary Clinton, moderator Megyn Kelly noted that he’d referred to women he doesn’t like as “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” He replied, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”

At that time, he had a decade-long history of slurring O’Donnell, calling her “obnoxious” and “dumb” and saying she “talks like a truck driver” and has a “fat, ugly face.” In the same debate, he claimed O’Donnell had been “vicious” to him, having first criticized him when she was a cohost on The View.

O’Donnell hasn’t let up on Trump since she moved to Ireland. Recently, she posted that he “has put this country in danger” and said federal cuts to weather forecasting contributed to the deaths from floods in Texas, as reported by Deadline and other outlets.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.