President Donald Trump has said he might revoke Rosie O’Donnell’s US citizenship after she criticised his administration’s handling of weather forecasting agencies in the wake of the deadly Texas floods, the latest salvo in a years-long feud the two have waged over social media.
“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,” Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, invoking a deportation rationale the administration has used in attempts to remove foreign-born protesters from the country.
“She is a Threat to Humanity, and should remain in the wonderful Country of Ireland, if they want her. GOD BLESS AMERICA!,” he added.
Under US law, a president cannot revoke the citizenship of an American born in the United States. O’Donnell was born in New York state.
O’Donnell, a long-time target of Trump’s insults and jabs, moved to Ireland earlier this year with her 12-year-old son after the start of the president’s second term. She said in a March TikTok video that she would return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America.”
O’Donnell responded to Mr Trump’s threat in two posts on her Instagram account, saying that the US president opposes her because she “stands in direct opposition with all he represents.”
Mr Trump’s disdain for O’Donnell dates back to 2006 when the comedian and TV host mocked him over his handling of a controversy concerning a winner of the Miss USA pageant, which he had owned.
His latest jab at O’Donnell seemed to be in response to a TikTok video she posted this month mourning the 119 deaths in the July 4th floods in Texas and blaming Mr Trump’s widespread cuts to environmental and science agencies involved in forecasting major natural disasters.
“What a horror story in Texas,” O’Donnell said in the video. “And you know, when the president guts all the early warning systems and the weathering forecast abilities of the government, these are the results that we’re gonna start to see on a daily basis.”
The Trump administration, as well as local and state officials, have faced mounting questions over whether more could have been done to protect and warn residents in advance of the Texas flooding, which struck with astonishing speed in the predawn hours of the Independence Day holiday on July 4th and killed at least 120, including dozens of children.
Mr Trump on Friday visited Texas and defended the government’s response to the disaster, saying his agencies “did an incredible job under the circumstances.” – Reuters
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