As the midterm elections loomed just days away and control of Congress hung in the balance, President Donald Trump took the stage at one of his last campaign rallies of the season with one clear objective: to provide his base with a motivation to turn out and cast their ballots.
Rather than laying out a plan to tackle gas prices, rising grocery bills or healthcare, the crowd was treated to a nostalgic journey back to the show that had propelled him to fame long before the White House.
It was the same off-script riff that has defined rally after rally this month.
Then, almost in the same breath, the 80-year-old president revived a nearly decade-old feud with one of Hollywood’s most decorated legends, a detour that left critics wondering who exactly his closing pitch was meant to reach.
The legend on the receiving end was Robert De Niro, and the show Trump couldn’t stop gushing about was “The Apprentice.”
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Trump made the remarks Oct. 30 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he was campaigning for Republican gubernatorial nominee Byron Donalds and Sen. Ashley Moody, four days before the Nov. 3 election.
“Did you ever hear of the show ‘The Apprentice’? You’re fired! Get out of here!” Trump told the crowd in a clip that spread on Threads as his “closing message.” He claimed everyone expected the NBC reality series to be “a total failure” and “just going to be a filler,” only for it to become “the hottest show on television.”
He then bragged that his show “beat what used to be a great show, the Academy Awards,” which he said now “sucks because people get up and use foul language about your favorite president.”
That’s when he turned on De Niro. “By the way, is Robert De Niro a moron?” Trump asked. There’s something wrong with him. I used to sort of like him in something, but now I can’t even watch him. He’s like, gross.”
He went on to criticize the 83-year-old actor’s comedy roles before claiming that the same Hollywood figures who have blasted him for years are now “all calling me kissing my a—” because they want federal tax credits for an industry he described as “dying.” Even so, Trump said he would “probably” give them what they are asking for.
For the record, the ratings tell a messier story than the one Trump sold the crowd. “The Apprentice” was a legitimate hit out of the gate, averaging about 21 million viewers in its first season and pulling roughly 28.1 million for the 2004 finale, according to International Business Times.
By its third season, however, the show’s audience had fallen to around 14 million viewers per episode, while Trump’s final episode as host in 2015 drew about six million viewers.
His beef with De Niro runs just as deep. The “Raging Bull” star famously declared “F— Trump” onstage at the 2018 Tony Awards, prompting Trump to fire back by calling him a “very low IQ individual.” Newsweek noted that the pair have been trading insults for nearly a decade.
On social media, plenty of people weren’t sold on reality TV nostalgia as a get-out-the-vote strategy. “This has any merit to who’s actually on the ballot because??? Good lord,” one person wrote.
Another dreamed up an imaginary swing voter: “You know, I really couldn’t decide, but then Trump reminded me about ‘The Apprentice’ and Robert De Niro, so now I feel I have to vote for him. Said no American ever.”
One commenter went straight for the numbers, pointing out that the first-season finale of “The Apprentice” drew about 28 million viewers, nowhere near the 105 million who watched the ‘M*A*S*H’ series finale.
Others proudly opted out altogether. “I’m a proud never Apprentice watcher,” one person declared, while another admitted, “I couldn’t even stand to watch the commercials for it.”
The Hollywood rant wasn’t the only moment from the night that had people talking. Trump was interrupted by hecklers at least three times, snapping “Shut up, loser!” as security moved in.
He also targeted Black and Jewish voters, telling them they’re “not smart” if they support Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Trump also took aim at Angie Nixon, the Florida Democrat challenging Moody, calling her “a very low-IQ person.”
The off-topic tangents have become a staple of his midterm swing. Earlier this month, he couldn’t stop talking about Ohio Sen. Jon Husted’s physique, and he has spent weeks boasting about crowd sizes that the cameras keep contradicting.
With voters set to have the final say on Nov. 3, Trump used part of his final Florida campaign pitch to revisit a reality show he stopped hosting more than a decade ago. Whether voters at the ballot box want a rerun is another story.
