NEWSRosie O'Donnell and Donald Trump's 20-Year Feud Started With One Takedown on 'The View'
Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump’s decades-long feud began with a clash on ‘The View’ in 2006.
Aug. 20 2026, Published 6:29 a.m. ET
Rosie O’Donnell and President Donald Trump’s feud did not begin with politics. It began with a beauty pageant scandal and one daytime TV host mocking Trump in exactly the tone he usually uses on everyone else.
Rosie O’Donnell criticized Donald Trump during a debate over Miss USA winner Tara Conner.
The fight dates back to a 2006 episode of The View, when O’Donnell criticized Trump for presenting himself as a “moral authority” after Miss USA winner Tara Conner was allowed to keep her crown amid allegations involving underage drinking and cocaine use.
“He annoys me on a multitude of levels,” O’Donnell said at the time, before calling Trump the “moral compass for 20-year-olds in America.”
'The View' Moment That Started It
Donald Trump repeatedly targeted Rosie O’Donnell as their feud continued into his political career.
O’Donnell also called Trump the “snake-oil salesman on Little House On The Prairie” and challenged his self-made image, referencing his father’s real estate success.
Trump fired back quickly. In an interview with People, calling O’Donnell “a woman out of control,” threatening to sue and saying, “Rosie’s a loser. A real loser.”
The insult became a pattern. Trump mocked O’Donnell after she announced her engagement to Michelle Rounds in 2011, attacked her after she spoke publicly about weight loss, and kept returning to her name as his political profile grew.
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A Campaign Punchline
Rosie O’Donnell remained outspoken against Donald Trump during his presidential campaigns and return to office.
By 2015, the feud had become part of Trump’s presidential act. During the first Republican primary debate, Megyn Kelly pressed him on his use of insults toward women. Trump interrupted with, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.”
He brought her up again during the 2016 race against Hillary Clinton, saying O’Donnell had been “very vicious” to him and that “everybody would agree that she deserves it.”
O’Donnell did not retreat. After Trump won, she told W Magazine that she had struggled to process his presidency and joined protests outside the White House in 2018.
Ireland and the Citizenship Threat
The longtime feud escalated after Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland and Donald Trump threatened to revoke her citizenship.
The feud entered a new phase after Trump’s 2025 return to office. O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her nonbinary child Clay, saying on TikTok they would consider coming back when “it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America.”
Trump responded in July by claiming he was “giving serious consideration” to revoking her citizenship, calling her “a Threat to Humanity.”
O’Donnell answered on Instagram: “You want to revoke my citizenship? Go ahead and try, King Joffrey with a tangerine spray tan. I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
