President Donald Trump did not hesitate to knock one of his longtime critics during a meeting with Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin.
Trump and the prime minister of Ireland were taking questions from the press when the president was asked about comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s decision to leave the United States for Ireland following his election. The reporter noted how Ireland is known for “very happy, fun-loving people” and asked “why in the world” he would allow O’Donnell to move to Ireland and risk lowering the country’s “happiness level,” to which Trump joked he “liked that question.”
The U.S. president then turned to Martin and asked if he knew who the comedian was, prompting the Irish prime minister to shrug and Trump to joke that he was “better off not knowing.”
REPORTER: “Ireland is known for very happy, fun loving people … Why in the world would you let Rosie O’Donnell move to Ireland!?”@POTUS: “Did you know you have Rosie O’Donnell? Do you know who she is?”
Taoiseach: …..@POTUS: “You’re better off not knowing.”
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 12, 2025
O’Donnell’s feud with Trump started in 2006 when she was a cohost on ABC News’s The View and has escalated following the billionaire’s foray into politics.
In a new video shared on social media, the comedian confirmed she had moved to Ireland in January before Trump’s inauguration and would stay there until she felt it was “safe” to return.
“When, you know, it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America, that’s when [she and her 12-year-old child] will consider coming back,” she said. “It’s been heartbreaking to see what’s happening politically and hard for me personally … The personal is political.”
The rivalry between Trump and O’Donnell started when the comedian criticized Trump’s decision not to fire Miss USA Tara Conner when it was revealed she was using drugs, though the billionaire did require her to undergo rehabilitation. O’Donnell claimed that she did not “enjoy” Trump and compared him to a “snake-oil salesman on Little House On The Prairie,” to which Trump would call The View cohost “a real loser” who would “rue the words she said.”
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Several years later, in 2011, Trump took to Twitter, now X, to criticize O’Donnell for announcing her engagement to her fiancée. He said he was sorry for O’Donnell’s girlfriend’s parents, claiming they must be “devastated at the thought of their daughter being with @Rosie.” O’Donnell, who has since deactivated her X account, promptly called him “an a**.”
I feel sorry for Rosie ‘s new partner in love whose parents are devastated at the thought of their daughter being with @Rosie–a true loser.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2011
When Trump ran for president in 2015, he was asked by then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly during the Republican primary debate about how Trump had referred to women as “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals,” to which Trump interjected “only Rosie O’Donnell,” drawing laughter from the debate attendees. O’Donnell responded to Trump’s comments online: “try explaining that 2 ur kids.”