Stars Donald Trump Can't Stand

Donald John Trump is one of the world's most controversial living people. Born the son of a wealthy real estate mogul, Trump bulldozed his way to further success in business while also attracting a lot of enemies. He first announced his intentions to enter politics way back in 1999, when he ditched the Republican Party for the Reform Party and sought their nomination for president of the United States. While that attempt largely went ignored, after a successful spell on reality TV, Trump would return to the race and win 16 years later. From business rivals to political foes to a laundry list of legal entanglements, Trump has a list of enemies that would keep most people looking over their shoulders. It doesn't help that Trump keeps finding ever-worse things to say and engaging in public feuds with celebrities.

One thing most people ought to be able to agree about Trump is that he is an opinionated man, vividly expressed at any given moment via his fondness for social media. Between its creation in 2009 and closure in 2021, Trump's official Twitter account issued over 57,000 posts, an average of just over 13 tweets a day. While followers have watched Trump's public statements morph in influence as he gained power, both on and off the computer screen, Trump appears to delight in sharing his distaste for fellow famous people. What we have all learned from these missives is that there are plenty of stars Trump simply can't stand. 

Celebrity endorsements are a big part of any election, but the 2024 race featured a ton of stars voicing their opinions. Taylor Swift, probably among the top three or four biggest names in entertainment, famously stays out of politics for the most part, but she stepped up to declare support for Kamala Harris. Swift explained that her drive to publicly support Harris first arose when she saw Donald Trump post AI-generated images of Swift on his Truth Social page, artificially celebrating her support. She offered words of encouragement to Harris, earning the wrath of Trump and his supporters.

Trump's initial response to Swift's endorsement was relatively restrained. He spoke to "Fox & Friends" on the morning of September 11, where he played off Swift's words by comparing her to various other women. Trump voiced his preference for Kansas City Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes' wife Brittany and Brittany Spears, suggesting both are big fans of his. He suggested that Taylor's liberal views would affect her music sales before taking the gloves off in a later online statement. Refusing to mince words, Trump took to Truth Social (via Reuters) again to straightforwardly state, "I hate Taylor Swift" in block capitals with an exclamation point. Trump happens to be one of many stars who can't stand Swift, but Trump's uncomplicated vitriol against Swift led the Harris campaign to release a statement taunting him with the names of various Taylor Swift songs. 

Though De Niro's life is complicated and private, the beloved 81-year-old star of "Taxi Driver" and "Heat" throws jabs at Trump practically every time he gets his hands on a microphone. Whether he's at a film festival or a campaign event, De Niro hates Trump's guts and can't wait to talk about it. In May 2024, De Niro spoke in favor of Joe Biden while standing outside a New York courthouse where Trump was being tried for falsifying business records.

Trump took exception to De Niro's consistent attacks, issuing retaliations via his Truth Social account. Trump issued posts (via The Hill) in which he called De Niro a "wacko former actor" and "small, both mentally and physically." He also claimed that De Niro represents the far left and that his political affiliation negatively impacted his work as an actor and even the artistic value of his films. For some unknown reason, Trump concluded the post with a reference to a Simon and Garfunkel song prominently featured in the Dustin Hoffman classic "The Graduate." 

Robyn Rihanna Fenty remains one of the most prominent performers and businesswomen of the era, who soared to fame with her first studio album in 2005. Until October 2024, Rihanna spent around three years as the most financially successful musical artist of all time, largely thanks to her beauty brand, and is also the face of several other brands. All that power and advertising savvy grants the 36-year-old artist a tremendous amount of influence, which is part of what irked Trump so much when she joined the long list of musicians demanding he keep their songs away from his rallies.

Rihanna's music publisher won a 2018 legal battle to exclude Trump from the artist's list of acceptable political entities, which kicked off a long battle that is very much still in motion. Rihanna spray painted a hateful message toward Trump in 2020, prompting some Republicans to insist she shouldn't be allowed to play the upcoming Superbowl halftime show. Trump posted on Truth Social (via The Hill), stating, "Without her 'Stylist' she'd be nothing. Bad everything, and no talent!" When that halftime show finally came, Trump blasted her again, characterizing the performance as the worst in the game's history. He also discounted her aforementioned stylist in a final attack. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger will always be a larger-than-life icon for his roles in classics like "The Terminator" and "Total Recall," but Californians might know him best as their GOP governor from 2003 to 2011. Despite his party affiliation, Schwarzenegger's relationship with Trump soured over the years. The actor famously replaced Trump on "The Apprentice" in 2015, shortly before he refused to support Trump's run for office. He issued statements against Trump that called for his fellow Republicans to choose their nation over their party, which evolved into a constant critique of Trump's controversial policies, earning Trump's ire.

Trump initially limited himself to attacking Schwarzenegger's performance on "The New Celebrity Apprentice" and the resulting ratings. He took time out of a prayer breakfast to give the show's creator some sass about replacing him with a movie star, then offered a prayer to Schwarzenegger for his ailing TV audience. Shortly thereafter, Trump took to Twitter to add additional insults to his reality show replacement. He tweeted (via Politico) that Schwarzenegger "did a really bad job as governor of California" and was "even worse" on his TV show. Unlike Schwarzenegger's old rivalry with Sylvester Stallone, the beef between Trump and the former "Governator" did not heal: Schwarzenegger went on to support the Harris campaign in 2024, and continued to maintain his distaste for the presumptive president-elect.

Mark Cuban is certainly one of the richest men to have beef with Donald Trump. The "Shark Tank" star made $5.7 billion from the 1997 sale of Broadcast.com to Yahoo during the dot-com bubble and, as of late 2024, holds an estimated net worth of around the same amount. In the meantime, Cuban purchased and sold massive shares of the Dallas Mavericks and started a prescription drug retailer to drive down prices. Cuban's history with Trump is a mixed bag. He initially shared barbs with the mogul in 2004, when they both operated reality shows with startlingly similar premises. When Trump began his run for office in 2015, Cuban supported him, but he later jumped ship in favor of the Clinton campaign in 2016.

During his time in office, Trump regularly attacked Cuban, labeling him a failure and suggesting he couldn't mount a similar campaign. By 2024, Cuban was on the campaign trail for Kamala Harris, leading Trump to launch constant social media attacks. In a post on Truth Social, Trump suggested that Cuban's support for the Democratic candidate originated from Trump's unwillingness to take his calls. He called him a "loser," a "weak and pathetic bully," and a "total non-athlete." 

Alec Baldwin immediately rocketed to the top of Trump's Hollywood hit list when he started his long-running role impersonating the president on "Saturday Night Live." He unveiled the performance on October 1, 2016, launching a comedic debate against Kate McKinnon's Hilary Clinton. The choice to bring in an actor outside the cast for such an important character was wildly controversial, as was Baldwin's work on the show. There was no bigger critic of Baldwin's impression than Trump himself, who regularly attacked the show, the network, and the performers as unfair political operatives. 

In 2021, Trump launched his most vicious attack against Baldwin while the actor was dealing with one of the biggest tragedies of his life. Baldwin was facing the consequences of an on-set shooting that killed a director of photography. Trump capitalized on that nightmarish situation while speaking on Chris Stigall's podcast, characterizing Baldwin as an unhinged individual and distinctly implying that the actor had something to do with the shooting. Careful not to make direct allegations, Trump repeatedly asked questions regarding Baldwin's intentions on the set of "Rust." He even went so far as to suggest (via Business Insider) that "maybe he loaded" the prop gun. Many interpreted the statements as Trump's long-awaited revenge for the "SNL" impression, especially because he mentioned it during the interview, calling it "terrible."

Meryl Streep is renowned for known for acting at the highest levels and has a truckload of awards to prove it. Streep got her first Oscar nomination way back in 1979 for "The Deer Hunter," her second feature film, and now holds the world record for the most nominations for both Oscars and Golden Globes. So far, Streep has taken home three Oscars and eight Golden Globes, both incredible accomplishments for anyone. Even beyond film awards, Streep received the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Barack Obama. However, her relationship with the next president was far less cordial.

In 2015, as she was taking home yet another shiny statue, this time the lifetime achievement award from the Golden Globes, Streep made comments about Trump's performance on the campaign trail. Though she didn't mention his name, she critiqued his alleged impression of journalist Serge Kovaleski and pushed back against the powerful acting as bullies. Trump tweeted his response, calling Streep "one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood." He accused her of unfairly attacking him without knowing him and characterized her as "a Hillary flunky who lost big," despite her delivering her comments as part of an acceptance speech.

Marshawn "Beast Mode" Lynch is one of the most iconic football players in the league. He started his NFL career in 2007 as the 12th pick in the year's draft, beginning a three-year run with the Buffalo Bills. He would go on to play for the Seattle Seahawks and finally for the Oakland Raiders. Lynch temporarily retired in 2016, but he returned to the league for several years after one season off, all the while dealing with several run-ins with the law. In 2017, he sat during the national anthem as part of a widespread protest against racism and police brutality, which saw many athletes kneeling as the anthem was played. It so happened that those protesting athletes were among Trump's favorite targets at the time. 

In a heated early-morning tweet, Trump called Lynch out for standing for the Mexican anthem while kneeling for the American tune, considering his actions "great disrespect." Trump suggested that protest actions like his were negatively affecting the NFL's ratings and that the league should suspend him for the remainder of the season. Trump regularly attacked similar athletes who dared to express their discontent during the anthem, although by 2020 Trump had reversed some of his statements on Colin Kaepernick, the face of the national anthem kneeling movement. He did not, however, back down on his belief that those who kneel or otherwise protest should be punished, tellingly leaving out Marshawn Lynch in his reevaluation.

Longtime movie star George Clooney has never shied away from politics. Clooney was a vocal supporter and a close personal friend of former president Barack Obama, keeping the actor firmly on the left side of the political divide. In 2011, he allegedly helped Obama raise over $15 million for his re-election campaign with a swanky dinner party. Many of Hollywood's biggest stars were in attendance, paying around $40,000 for a seat while tens of thousands of everyday supporters dropped a few bucks for a chance to win their own way into the soiree. Clooney's fondness for Obama earned him some general pull in the Democratic Party, which he used to ask Joe Biden to step down from the 2024 race.

In July 2024, Clooney wrote an op-ed for The New York Times practically begging Biden to throw in the towel. He was as kind as he could be as he asked Biden to quit, but that call for a new candidate enraged Trump. The president-elect took to Truth Social (via Vanity Fair) to accuse Clooney of stabbing Biden in the back. Trump called Clooney a "fake movie actor" who shouldn't be weighing in on political matters. He encouraged Clooney to "get out of politics and go back to television" because "movies never really worked for him." Oddly enough, Trump alternated between attacking Clooney and Biden, the man Clooney just encouraged to leave the race.

Angela Merkel was one of the longest-serving chancellors of Germany, leading the nation from 2005 to 2021. She was the first woman to be elected chancellor, breaking new ground before her term even began, and saw four American presidents come and go during her time in office. George W. Bush allegedly rubbed her back without her consent, leading to a slightly tense tone in their future meanings, while Merkel and Obama had a complex relationship with a lot of ups and downs. Then came Trump, who reportedly called her "stupid" over the phone.

In 2020, CNN uncovered several classified phone calls between Trump and world leaders. He allegedly insulted Merkel's intelligence during a call, a bout of verbal abuse that reportedly fits into a trend of several other attacks on allied leaders. German officials stated that Trump accused Merkel of being somehow owned by Russian interests in one of several vicious diatribes. They even claimed that Merkel deliberately reduced the number of advisers around to hear her phone conversations with Trump, hiding their "problematic" contents. In more specific critiques, Trump attacked Merkel's immigration policies in a German newspaper, claiming (via The Guardian) to have "great respect" for her while calling out her "catastrophic mistake."

Arianna Huffington is known as a liberal darling, but her political alignment has shifted over the years. She started her journalism career writing for the National Review, one of the more conservative voices in the medium. In 1996, she covered the election for Comedy Central, providing a right-wing voice to rival Al Franken. Huffington ran for governor of California as an independent in 2003, but after she lost, she co-founded The Huffington Post with Andrew Breitbart and others to compete with The Drudge Report. Despite Huffington's conservative bona fides, Trump consistently attacked her for her liberal views.

Trump hurled extremely personal attacks at Huffington as far back as 2012. He took to Twitter to state that Huffington was "unattractive both inside and out" and to celebrate her former husband, openly bisexual conservative politician Michael Huffington, for divorcing her many years earlier. He followed those insults with another tweet, claiming that those who accused him of cruelty would agree with him if they knew Huffington. That post came with a threat, promising more hate to come. Trump would go on to regularly attack Huffington and her outlet, accusing it of illegitimacy and bias. 

Sacha Baron Cohen has a decent reputation as an actor and a legendary reputation as an on-camera prankster. In the late 1990s, he originated the first of several popular characters, Ali G, and thus established his gimmick. As Ali G, and later as Borat, Bruno, and several other familiar fixtures, Cohen would conduct interviews in various settings with people who don't realize they're being messed with. In 2003, Ali G roped Donald Trump into one of his comedic scenes, pitching him a fake product to see how he'd react on camera. He walked out during the filming, cutting the routine short, and later reportedly talked to The New York Times journalist Maureen Dowd, used a slur to describe Cohen, and stated, "... it was a total con job." Trump would later attack Cohen for another prank. 

As part of Cohen's second "Borat" film, the film crew captured Trump ally Rudy Giuliani in a compromising position during an interview with a young lady. Voice of America White House bureau chief Steve Herman tweeted out Trump's response to the public release of the footage. Trump allegedly stated, "Years ago, you know, he (Cohen) tried to scam me, and I was the only one who said no way." Trump called him a "phony guy," stated that he wasn't funny, and accused him of being a "creep."