Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: I’m not writing this because I hate Trump. To the contrary, often I’ve written legal pieces defending his policies. And usually, to be blunt, Trump’s not wrong when it comes to how things should work legally. But law isn’t about what should be. It’s about what is. And when it comes to this Rosie O’Donnell business—well, buckle up.

Trump vs. Rosie: A Dogfight Nearly 20 Years in the Making

This isn’t some fresh social media beef—it’s an old-school, slow-roasted celebrity feud, going all the way back to The View in 2006. That’s when Rosie mocked Trump on air for his handling of the Miss USA scandal, calling him a “snake-oil salesman.” Trump, of course, responded with his now-iconic jab:

Rosie O’Donnell is disgusting—both inside and out. You take a look at her, she’s a slob… If I were running The View, I’d fire Rosie. I’d look her right in that fat, ugly face of hers and say, “Rosie, you’re fired.”

And it didn’t stop there. At a Republican primary debate in 2015, when Megyn Kelly challenged Trump on calling women names such as “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals,” he interrupted her by saying, “Only Rosie O’Donnell.” Crowd went wild.

Fast forward to 2025—in fact, just yesterday, July 12, 2025. Rosie’s now living in Ireland, and Trump recently fired off on Truth Social that he’s “giving serious consideration” to revoking her U.S. citizenship—calling her a “threat to humanity.” Rosie fired back like only Rosie can, calling him a “criminal con man, sexual-abusing liar,” and suddenly we’ve got a late-night constitutional law seminar hiding inside a reality TV roast.

Can the President Revoke Your Citizenship?

Let’s make this brutally clear: The President of the United States has exactly zero legal power to unilaterally revoke your citizenship—especially if you were born here. Rosie, of course, was born in Commack, New York, on March 21, 1962.

This isn’t some murky legal gray area. It’s black-and-white law. The Supreme Court resolved it over half a century ago in Afroyim v. Rusk, 387 U.S. 253, 268-69 (1967), where the justices considered whether a U.S. citizen who voted in an Israeli election could lose his citizenship as punishment. Congress said yes. The Court said hell no.

Here’s the quote that eviscerates this entire idea:

We hold that the Fourteenth Amendment was designed to, and does, protect every citizen of this Nation against a congressional forcible destruction of his citizenship… Our holding does no more than to give to this citizen that which is his own, a constitutional right to remain a citizen in a free country unless he voluntarily relinquishes that citizenship.

That’s it. Game over. Whether you’re a war hero, a tax cheat, a great comedian, or Rosie O’Donnell, your citizenship is yours unless you voluntarily renounce it. And even then, the process is harder than getting through TSA with a bottle of shampoo.

When Trump Is This Wrong, He’s Probably Just Trolling

This isn’t a partisan hit piece. In fact, many of my firm’s legal articles highlight times when Trump’s instincts are spot-on—especially when it comes to executive power, regulation, and yes, even the courts.

But here, he’s just plain wrong. Constitutionally, legally, laughably wrong.

That said… come on. The guy trolls for a living. This “serious consideration” line was almost certainly a joke—a red-meat throwaway line designed to make his supporters laugh and send the left into cardiac arrest.

And it worked. Rosie raged. The headlines exploded. But let’s be honest—Trump knows the law better than he lets on. He’s not really trying to revoke her citizenship. No constitutional lawyer would take him seriously on this. He’s just lighting a rhetorical firecracker and watching the media jump like it’s 2016 again.

The Final Verdict: Rosie Is Safe. Tragically.

No, Trump can’t revoke her citizenship. Yes, the comment was legally idiotic—especially in a nation already stretched thin by division.

But a joke is a joke. The President gets free speech, too. His base got a laugh. His critics got something to scream about. And Rosie? Well, Rosie got a few more minutes of relevance.

Whether tormenting the American public with painfully unfunny comedy counts as treason—now that is a debate for another day. But for now, the key takeaway is that not even treason can strip you of your citizenship.

Which means Rosie’s in the clear. She’ll remain a citizen unless and until she voluntarily goes through the process of revoking it herself.

Image Credit: OpenAI DALL·E.