Robert De Niro urges Americans to ‘stand up and be counted’ in anti-Trump protests

A new video from Robert De Niro implores people in the US “to stand up and be counted” in coming protests against Donald Trump’s second presidency that are being planned across the country for Saturday.

In the clip, the two-time Oscar winner characterizes Trump as an aspiring tyrant who aims to end American democracy, which – among other major historical events – has survived the first and second world wars.

“We have a would-be king who wants to take it away: king Donald the first,” De Niro says. “Fuck that.”

The GoodFellas and Godfather Part II star then calls on those in the US to “nonviolently [raise] our voices” at demonstrations Saturday that follow up on similar ones called “No Kings” rallies that were held on 14 June and attracted a turnout of millions to about 2,000 distinct sites.

“I’m … asking you to stand up and be counted in the nationwide ‘No Kings’ protest” on Saturday, De Niro remarks in the video. Invoking a phrase from the ubiquitously recited US pledge of allegiance, he adds: “We’re all in this together – indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

The No Kings theme was conceived by the decentralized 50501 movement. Standing in opposition to the Trump administration’s policies, 50501 means 50 states, 50 protests and one movement.

June’s actions were planned as the Trump administration sent national guard troops and US marines to Los Angeles to meet protests against ramped-up deportations and immigration enforcement being carried out at the behest of the president.

The Trump administration has since sent military troops to other major US cities – among them Washington DC, Chicago, Portland and Memphis – to either support federal agents cracking down on immigration or ostensibly fight crime, even though at least some of those communities had been reporting steep reductions in violence.

Heading into Saturday, Trump’s public approval rating was estimated to be -8, according to a new poll. The Morning Consult survey – conducted between 10 and 12 October – estimated 45% of the public approved of Trump’s performance while 53% disapproved, tying a record high for the Republican’s second presidency.

That poll arrived as a partial federal government shutdown headed toward its third week after beginning on 1 October, when Senate Democrats demanding concessions on healthcare and other spending priorities refused to provide the votes needed to pass a Republican-backed funding bill. The survey was completed before – as part of a 20-point proposal for peace from Trump – Hamas released the final 20 living hostages taken on 7 October 2023 while the Israelis handed over nearly 2,000 Palestinian detainees.

De Niro, 82, has long presented himself as one of Trump’s loudest critics. For instance, in May, while accepting an award at the Cannes film festival, the actor said Trump had left Americans “fighting like hell for the democracy we once took for granted”.

“Like a film, we can’t just all sit back and watch,” De Niro remarked. “We have to act, and we have to act now.”