12 hours Ago
AMERICAN COMEDIAN ROSIE O’Donnell has revealed that she moved to Ireland to escape the “cruelty” of her government shortly before Donald Trump began his second term as US President in January. O’Donnell made the announcement in a nine-minute video posted to TikTok in which she said she has been here since 15 January, before thanking the “loving and kind” Irish people for their “warm” welcome. She also said she is in the process of applying for Irish citizenship for which she qualifies through her grandparents.
The former host of US daytime talk show The View has a two-decade-long feud with the current US President which began in 2006 when she attacked his history of infidelity, to which Trump responded by calling her a “real loser”. Perhaps the most contentious and high-profile flashpoint in the pair’s dispute was during a Republican primary debate ahead of the 2016 US Election where he addressed a question from moderator Megyn Kelly about having previously labelled women as “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals”. He responded with “only Rosie O’Donnell” in addition to a slew of other insults directed at her including “fat pig” and “slob”.
In her TikTok address, O’Donnell revealed she is looking to set down roots here with her 12-year-old daughter, before hinting at her motivation for relocating. “I’m trying to find a home here in in this beautiful country,” she said. “When you know it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that’s when we will consider coming back.
“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.” O’Donnell lamented the current state of American democracy in the hands of the Trump administration, questioning the efforts of the media in her homeland to successfully hold the MAGA juggernaut accountable.
“It seems as though the only place you can get the news of what’s really happening in terms of protests and whatnot is on Tiktok, and the mainstream media has been letting us all down there in America, where the fourth estate is required in order to maintain a democracy.” She added: “I encourage everyone 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. We don’t have cruelty as part of our governing style.
” It is not clear exactly where in Ireland O’Donnell has decided to live, but she made reference to her friend having shown her around Dublin. The news comes as the country waits with bated breath to see what comes of today’s annual meeting between Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s and President Trump at the White House, hours after the EU announced “countermeasures” in response to the US tariffs of 25 percent on steel and aluminium imports. The pair will discuss important issues of interest to both countries in an Oval Office sit-down such as trade, the Irish-American connection and the Ukraine war, among other things.
.
