Al-Okaz, Saudi Arabia, June 16
One of President Trump’s most vocal opponents to date has been none other than legendary Hollywood actor Robert de Niro, who has made a point of lambasting the president in almost every public appearance. Last week, de Niro took to the stage at the Tony Awards and began his speech with a series of slurs targeting Trump. The crowd gave him a standing ovation. When asked to retract his comments, de Niro stated that the only thing he is sorry for is his “president’s stupidity.” Seemingly, there is nothing wrong with freedom of speech or expression, especially when it comes to political matters. The problem, however, is that de Niro’s remarks have not only been particularly severe but also come at a time when Trump is actually marking astonishing progress in his foreign policy agenda. While Trump was marking the successful completion of his much-anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, de Niro and his colleagues were insulting the president. This coalition of actors, writers and other intellectuals has turned its opposition to Trump into a guiding political principle. They don’t care about the details of the policy the president is promoting. To them, everything Trump says or does is equally bad. One cannot help but wonder why the leftist media in the U.S., but also elsewhere in the world, has grown so obsessed in its hatred of a democratically-elected U.S. leader. What is it about Donald Trump that makes even the most admired individuals so blindly focused on hatred and aggression? This is true not only in America but also in the Arab media. Denial is dangerous, no matter which side of the political spectrum it comes from. –Mashri al-Zayidi