EXCLUSIVE - Rosie O'Donnell responds to Trump's latest attacks.

Summary

The Jim Acosta Show: EXCLUSIVE – Rosie O'Donnell Responds to Trump's Latest Attacks
Episode Date: September 5, 2025
Host: Jim Acosta
Guest: Rosie O'Donnell

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Episode Overview

This special episode of The Jim Acosta Show centers on Rosie O’Donnell’s first public response to a new series of personal attacks by former President Donald Trump. In an unfiltered conversation, Jim and Rosie dissect Trump's ongoing assaults not just on her, but on American democracy, discuss the cover-up of the Epstein files, raise serious concerns about Trump’s health, and reflect on the wider erosion of American values and media integrity. The discussion oscillates between personal anecdotes, political analysis, calls to action, and sharp critiques of Trump and his circle.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Trump's Latest Attacks on Rosie O'Donnell

• Rosie describes being woken up by news of Trump's renewed attacks, which she connects to attempts to distract from more serious issues like the Epstein files and ongoing court cases.

  "He is deranged, and I believe he's suffering from dementia and some very serious medical complications, which looks like congestive heart failure to me..."
  (Rosie O'Donnell, 01:14)

• She shares examples of Trump's decades-long threats against her and her family.
• Rosie's main thesis: Trump's fixation on personal feuds is a deliberate sideshow.

2. Epstein Files Controversy

• Both Rosie and Jim highlight the centrality of the Epstein files scandal and Trump's alleged involvement.
• Rosie points out the significance of survivor testimony and suggests Trump’s reaction ("flyover" during press conferences) is an implicit admission of guilt.

  "Could you say 'I'm guilty' without saying 'I'm guilty' more than having a flyover during their press conference?"
  (Rosie O'Donnell, 00:48)

3. Trump's Legal and Moral Culpability

• Reference to the E. Jean Carroll case and the multiple allegations against Trump.

  "How can you deny the charges of 26 women and then being found culpable of raping E. Jean Carroll...and not still think that he is guilty?"
  (Rosie O'Donnell, 03:02)

• Jim notes the lack of clarity on why Trump’s name is in Epstein's files, despite years of public scrutiny.
  (03:20)

4. Culture War, Authoritarianism, and Democracy Under Threat

• Rosie argues Trump wants to erase black and gay culture and foster "a white separatist nation."
• Jim and Rosie both express alarm about the normalization of anti-democratic actions, including armed National Guard deployments and stripping citizenship.
• Both criticize the failure of major institutions—media, universities, the judiciary—to counteract growing authoritarianism.

5. The State of American Media

• Rosie criticizes “corporately owned media” and laments news being branded as entertainment, arguing that this shift has eroded journalism and public accountability.

  "When they own the information, they can bend it all they want."
  (Rosie O'Donnell, 10:12)

• Both discuss recent moves toward conservative control of major outlets and the wealthy, unaccountable ownership of legacy media.

6. Economic Decline and the American Dream

• Rosie shares her own working-class roots, how the American dream is now inaccessible to most young people, and the impact of crises like student debt and unemployment.
  (16:09 & 18:19)
• Jim highlights new unemployment figures and the decimation of the federal workforce as evidence of the country’s downward trajectory.

7. Project 2025 & Dangers Ahead

• Rosie warns listeners about the extremist Project 2025 agenda, Medicaid/healthcare cuts, and the appointment of unqualified loyalists like RFK Jr.

  "No one read Project 2025. And if you had, you would have been terrified and left the country."
  (Rosie O'Donnell, 13:37)

8. Call to Action & Hope

• Repeated insistence that now is the moment for all with a platform to speak up and resist.

  "Now or never. Break glass in time of emergency. It's time to break the glass."
  (Rosie O'Donnell, 03:59)

• Endorsement of grassroots protest actions (“black out the system,” mass demonstrations) as the necessary response to a “coup” against American democracy.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Rosie O'Donnell on Trump's Attacks

• "He is deranged, and I believe he's suffering from dementia and some very serious medical complications, which looks like congestive heart failure to me..." (01:14)

On the Epstein Files

• "We all know why. Why else do you think he paid a billion dollars to Jeffrey Epstein over the time of their friendship?... If this was an Angela Lansbury murder, she wrote, people would be... It's too obvious." (03:39)

On Sexual Abuse Allegations

• "For every child that was ever raped by a grown man. How dare he? How dare he. We are mighty. One in three girls suffers child sex abuse. One in five boys. Those are the statistics. America, wake up." (04:42)

On Media and Truth

• "We're not telling the American people the truth. And that is the fault of corporately owned media. And it changed in my lifetime." (10:36)

On the State of the Nation

• "It's a clown show. He hired unqualified people to create chaos in every area of the country so he could take control." (13:11)
• "He is a criminal con man and not even a good one." (20:29)

On Activism and Courage

• "Every person with a platform to speak out about it. Every single person. Now or never. Break glass in time of emergency. It's time to break the glass." (03:59)
• "Do you want freedom, America, or do you not? Because if you don't, the time has come." (27:13)

On the American Dream

• "That's not the truth anymore. It's not the truth for our kids... That's what I took for granted, he's taken away." (16:09)

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Key Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:06 | Opening – Trump’s renewed attacks on Rosie and American democracy | | 00:48 | Rosie on being targeted: connecting personal attacks to the Epstein files and the cover-up | | 03:01 | Discussing E. Jean Carroll case, survivor testimonies, and cultural denial | | 04:42 | Rosie denounces Trump’s dismissal of survivors, calls for nationwide awakening | | 05:57 | Claims about international elites, banking, and scale of Epstein cover-up | | 08:50 | Rosie’s reflections on feeling depressed by U.S. events from Ireland | | 10:12 | Critique of corporately owned media, Israel/Gaza coverage, and "news as entertainment" | | 11:49 | Evaluating Democratic opposition: mention of Gavin Newsom and Project 2025 dangers | | 13:11 | “It’s a clown show” – chaos as a strategy | | 14:29 | Women’s allegations vs. obsession with trans athletes | | 15:39 | Rosie on leaving, fighting from abroad, memories of working-class life | | 17:23 | The American dream slipping away, generational change | | 19:24 | Student debt, loss of post-college opportunity | | 20:29 | Trump family enrichment, lack of oversight | | 22:21 | National Guard in D.C., militarization, insurrection | | 24:26 | Media failures—press should withhold Oval Office coverage | | 25:23 | Trump’s obsession with Rosie, childish behavior | | 26:21 | Rosie’s life in Ireland and upcoming Australia tour | | 27:13 | Urgency—resistance to oligarchy, defending American values | | 28:24 | Grassroots organizing: "black out the system," parallels to South Korea | | 29:41 | Defense of free speech, speaking out as an American right |

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Tone and Language

• Candid, urgent, and emotional: Both Jim and Rosie speak plainly and directly, conveying alarm and frustration.
• Fiery and at times raw: The language is unvarnished and sometimes profane, reflecting the gravity of topics and their personal investment.
• Personal and anecdotal: Rosie shares personal history to anchor broader social commentary.

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Summary Takeaways

• Rosie O’Donnell forcefully responds to Trump’s personal attacks, linking them to larger authoritarian and criminal behaviors.
• Both discuss the severity of the Epstein scandal, the need for transparency, and the significance of survivor testimony.
• The conversation broadens to encompass concerns about democracy, media accountability, the collapse of the American dream, and the urgency of grassroots activism.
• Rosie urges all Americans with a voice to use it, calling this a pivotal “break glass in case of emergency” moment for the nation.
• Despite living abroad, Rosie’s commitment to American causes and values endures, and she encourages people to rise up collectively.

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For Listeners

If you missed the episode, this conversation was a blend of political urgency, raw emotional appeal, and personal testimony. Rosie O’Donnell’s response was not limited to defending herself, but used as a springboard to call out dangerous trends and inspire collective action. The stakes discussed are existential: truth, justice, and the future of American democracy itself.

Transcript

[Producer Matt]

In.

[Jim Acosta]

All right. Welcome to a special edition of the Jim Acosta show. And it's another day that ends in Y and Trump's assault on American democracy. It's a another day that ends in Y on his cover up of the Epstein files and his cover up of his health issues. My friend Rosie o' Donnell is back. We just had lunch in Ireland. It wasn't enough. Rosie, great to see you.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

How are you doing, Jim? How was the flight back?

[Jim Acosta]

It was, it was uneventful, which is, you know, more than we can ask for these days. I have to say, you look like you're having a ball over there. Dublin's a great city, but, I mean, as soon as we got back or I got back, Trump's going after you. And I'm thinking, what the hell is going on? I wake up and there are these tweets and stuff.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

I know, I was woken up too, by a friend of mine in, in LA who follows it closely and he's like, he did it again. I'm like, wait a minute, it's the middle of the night. What's happening? You know, but what's wrong with this guy? I gotta say, you know, it's the Epstein files, It's the testifying of the survivors that he tried to cover up with the planes with a flyover. Like, you know, it's unbelievable how obvious he is about everything that he does. And could you say I'm guilty without saying I'm guilty more than having a flyover during their press conference? As if he's gonna, like, hold the tide, you know, the time is up and. And he knows it. And he's like a cornered rat and he doesn't know where to go or what to do. So he goes into his bag of tricks. And one of his bag of tricks is, let's make fun of Rosie o' Donnell and threatener. Even though he's threatened me before but never done anything, he's threatened to sue me for 20 something years. He's threatened to take away my wife. When I was married, he said he was going to have thugs come and get my wife. He is deranged, and I believe he's suffering from dementia and some very serious medical complications, which looks like congestive heart failure to me because my brother had that and his ankle swelled and he got bruises on his hands and, you know, then he disappeared for six days. That was not normal. While the judges came down with some rulings that would normally make him go batshit crazy. And he said nothing for six days. And I Don't know. You know, I think that there is a line in the sand with, you know, people raping children and this is a sex trafficking international cover up. And he's in the middle of it. And there's no way, even if they redacted his name a patrillion times from the Epstein files that he's going to get away with it. Now the women are speaking, the little girls that are raped by grown men, those girls grow up to be fierce women.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Time is up when that happens. And I believe his time is up. I believe America will not stand for this. I believe this is the line in the sand for me.

[Jim Acosta]

I, I think this is.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

How can you deny the charges of 26 women and then being found culpable of raping Eugene Carol, and then hear these women's testimony and not still think that he is guilty? How is that possible in, in modern society?

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

I mean, you have a judge saying he's liable for sexual abuse when it comes to Eugene Carroll. And I think you're absolutely right. The one person standing in the way of us all figuring out why his name appears multiple times in the Epstein files. We still don't know why his name appears multiple times in the Epstein.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

We all know why.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

You have to know why. Why else do you think he paid a billion dollars to Jeffrey Epstein over the time of their friendship? A billion dollars he wrote in his birthday book. Here's to all the secrets, wonderful secrets.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

If this was an Angela Lansbury murder, she Wrote people would be. It's too obvious.

[Jim Acosta]

We figured it out.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Obvious that he is guilty as sin. And America, you know, before he brings more troops into Chicago and harasses brown skinned people, before he breaks more of the Constitution apart, before he starts having people get killed. We have to do something, America. And it's every person with a platform to speak out about it. Every single person. Now or never. Break glass in time of emergency. It's time to break the glass.

[Jim Acosta]

And you saw, Rosie, what he did the other day when those brave women were up on Capitol Hill, the survivors, their families, they were all speaking out at the same time. Donald Trump is saying it's a democratic hoax.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

How dare he, Jim. How dare he? For every child that was ever raped by a grown man. How dare he? How dare he. We are mighty. One in three girls suffers child sex abuse. One in five boys. Those are the statistics. America, wake up. Yeah, wake up. Our president is a serial pedophile rapist. And that's what he is. And in America you're allowed to have an opinion. You're allowed to say what you think. That's what our country was founded on. Come on, let him try to distract you with everything else. With the falling economy, the putting American National Guard workers against their own people.

[Jim Acosta]

Right.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Get in defiance of the law and the Constitution. And a federal judge just said it was illegal what he did. But does he say it's illegal to take a citizenship away from an American citizen born here? No, he doesn't say that.

[Jim Acosta]

He doesn't say that. It's totally unamerican. I mean, and that's why we need to see. Yeah, and that's why we need to see the Epstein files. We know exactly what it says. We don't know exactly what it says, but it is time to end the COVID up. And he's the one who's, who's in charge of the COVID up, it seems to me.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

I mean, and it involved international banking. It involved billions of dollars passing between American oligarchs, sexual predators, sexual traffickers, big names apparently. This makes Watergate look like a joke.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

This is unbelievable. And you know, the fact that he would say Rosie o' Donnell is, is not a good American and she never can be. Well, I don't think you're a good American if you do what you did. Donald Trump.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, let's show, let's show his tweet and then show your reaction. Because I, I mean, I mean it just. He's a child. He's a man child.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Something that a sixth grader would do.

[Jim Acosta]

Exactly.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Take a picture and stretch it out and draw on my face like he drew. Where, where? The hurricane. I mean, it's, it's beyond parody.

[Jim Acosta]

It's mental. And then your response is perfect. I mean, banishing me again. Logan Roy would be proud. I'm the distraction. Epstein survivors are the reckoning. And your gold Lemay throne is. Did I pronounce that correctly?

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Gold.

[Jim Acosta]

Gold lame throne. I've never had anything gold Lemay. He has a lot of that because.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Everything in his world is goleme. It's not real gold. It's not worth anything. It's fake. And that's what he did to the White House. He put gold lame all over everything.

[Jim Acosta]

It's. It's horrific. It's, it's, it's an assault on the sense.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

I have to see if that's my kid at the door. Hold on one second.

[Jim Acosta]

Let's, let's.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Sorry.

[Jim Acosta]

No problem. Rosie's a good mom. I've seen it up close and I Mean, look at. Look at this. This post from down. This true social post from Donald Trump. It's absolutely ridiculous, but just so folks are aware. And there's. There's. There's Rosie's chair. She'll be back in just a second.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Sorry, I'm gonna run back to let her in. I'll be right back.

[Jim Acosta]

That's okay. I knew if I had Rosie online there, there would be nothing but surprises. But just the other day, Rosie and I had lunch in Dublin, and it was just going to be lunch I had. No, there was not. I wasn't doing this to butter up for an interview or anything like that. And, you know, I wanted to check and see how Rosie was doing. And, you know, because she's been attacked by Trump over and over again, and all of his sycophants on social media go nuts and repost things and go crazy and say stupid stuff. And I wanted to, you know, just have lunch with her, see how she's doing. And I have to say, the restaurant that we had lunch in was lovely. The neighborhood that we met in was absolutely perfect. It's just in a beautiful part of Dublin, and she is. She's thriving there. She's having a great time.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[Jim Acosta]

No, no. I was just explaining that the. The neighborhood that you're in and the restaurant that we met in. Absolutely lovely. What a wonderful lunch we had.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Yes. Great time.

[Jim Acosta]

The. The life that you have there is just. Is just so nice. And I don't know what. You know, why would you want to come back to any of this crap?

[Producer Matt]

I mean.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Well, listen, it's very sad to me what's happening in the United States. It's overwhelmingly depressing, to tell you the truth.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And I fear for the safety of the world.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And he is a dangerous man.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And he's trying to shut up any dissent. He's trying to erase black culture, gay culture. He's trying to make a white separatist nation, and we cannot allow him to do that.

[Producer Matt]

We.

[Jim Acosta]

I agree with you 1, 1000%. We cannot allow that to happen. And, you know, the other thing that he's doing is covering up his. His health issues. It's just so obvious.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Yes. I mean, in this day and age, you think people don't know what congestive heart failure.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Looks like.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

I think people don't know that the weird makeup have family members who've gone through dementia and what it looks like and what it sounds like. He thinks it's a reality show, Jim.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

He thinks it's Mark Burnett saying, cut, let's redo that. It didn't sound true enough because nothing was true on that show. It was fiction sold as fact. Right. And it fooled America. And it's very tragic.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And, and we're all sort of hostages.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

To this, but it's about time that we all said no.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

You did the right thing by walking away from corporately owned media. Because when they own the information, they can bend it all they want.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And they're not exposing what happened in Israel and Gaza, that they're not telling the American people how responsible we are, how dirty and bloody our hands are, that that was our money for those bombs.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

We're not telling the American people the truth. And that is the fault of corporately owned media. And it changed in my lifetime.

[Jim Acosta]

It changed.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And when it did, and they put news under entertainment, it ruined the fourth estate.

[Jim Acosta]

And now you have what, CBS coming under. I mean, some very Weiss conservative person is going to take over CBS News, apparently. I mean, you see what's happening at the other networks. They're bending the knee. The newspaper, I mean, of my hometown, the Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos. I, you know, it's, it's scary. I mean, I think it's absolutely scary. And it is about.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Well, it's terrifying. And it, and it. Honestly, if it isn't the bottom of the ninth, honey. And two outs, three and two, you know.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And we're in trouble.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Like we got one chance for someone to hit it out of the park and change the dynamic. And it needs to be all of us together.

[Jim Acosta]

I agree with that. I think. I don't anybody waiting for somebody to come in on a white horse. I mean, it's just. You're diluting yourselves. We're all going to have to be in this together. Who do you see on the Democratic side right now, Rosie? I mean, you see Gavin Newsom really taking it to Trump. Do you like that? What do you. What do you see?

[Rosie O'Donnell]

It's brilliant because it's showing the absurdity of what he's done for the last 10 years, using AI to project an image. He thinks it's the Apprentice. He doesn't understand. He made all that money. He made billions of dollars with this crypto thing he's doing. He's fleecing America and we're watching it happen. And it's going to kill people. The Medicaid cuts will kill people, and he's doing nothing. And the job reports came out again and it's A nightmare. And what does he do? Fires another person who took the stats and told the truth. He's just going to fire everyone who tells the truth or send us to El Salvador or take away our citizenship. He's really a danger to the world. And I don't know what it's going to take. And it may already be too late. I pray to God it's not. I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but it's hard to look at it every day, especially from outside the country, and go, oh, dear God Almighty, what is happening? Yeah, what is happening?

[Jim Acosta]

And you know, he thinks that if you put lipstick on a pig, it's just going to go away. They're trying to rebrand the so called big beautiful bill, which I've called the big boulder of bullshit that he wants to rebrand the Secretary, the Defense Department, the sec, the War Department and the Secretary of Defense. Secretary of War. I mean, it's just nonsense.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Listen, it's a clown show. He hired unqualified people to create chaos in every area of the country so he could take control.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

He likes to break things and then say, look at, I fixed it. He never fixed anything. The man is a fraud. He's a con man. Come on, America.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah, and he's.

[Jim Acosta]

And he's put a kook in charge of HHS. I mean, look at RFK Jr.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

He didn't even know how many people died in Covid.

[Jim Acosta]

Thank you.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

He didn't even know that. He is not a doctor, rfk. He's a conspiracy theorist. His family disowned him. He is not a respected person. What the hell are we putting him in charge of this? Lying about vaccines, making up facts? It's a disgrace to the family name Kennedy and it's a disgrace to our country. And the amount of people that are going to suffer as a result of his bill is unfathomable. And no one read Project 2025. And if you had, you would have been terrified and left the country. But now you have to pay attention because you know what? We're in the bottom of the ninth, people. Yeah, we are in trouble.

[Jim Acosta]

And, and, and his solution for everything is picking on marginalized communities, minorities. Just the other day they're throwing more.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Women have accused him of sex and rape than there are trans athletes in America and he's focusing on trans athletes. Yeah, he wants to protect children. This is what he says. He's all about family and children. Look what he did to children on that island. Katie Johnson, everyone. Google it. Real human being threatened. Real human being. They don't play around. This is like the upper echelon of the upper echelon, and it's very, very scary.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And this is why we need to see what's in the Epstein file. I mean, what they've released so far. Well, we know 3% is new to.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

See it, but we know what's in there.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Because he wouldn't be going crazy unless he knew what was in there was going to finish him. And it's already finished him because the wave has hit the shore and those women are speaking and they're not going to shut up.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

Is there any way you would come back? Because, I mean, I'm sure people are listening to this right now and saying, rosie, we want you back here fighting with us here. I love it that you're happy there in Ireland. It's. It's a beautiful thing. But is there a part of you that says, I want to get back in there.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

I want to get back right now. My heart is pounding through my chest right now. I'm trying to regulate myself. I'm trying to go. You know, it is not my responsibility. I am not just a public figure that, you know, has no value in terms of another human being. The same value as anyone else. But I have access to a microphone.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And I will stand up for all of us who don't have access, all of those who don't. You know, I didn't grow up a rich, privileged kid.

[Jim Acosta]

I didn't neither. Me neither.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

I didn't forget who I am and where I came from and what life is like for the vast majority of Americans. Oh, she's an elitist. No, I'm not. I grew up wearing hand me down clothes. We never had a new car. I'm not complaining. I'm saying that this is the American life. And you were able to have a job and get a house and start your family. When my father was young, when even me, I was able to get houses. My friend Jackie and Jeannie, who I grew up with on the same street, they all had successful lives with families and houses and cars and jobs that they loved and respected and paid them enough. That's not the truth anymore. It's not the truth for our kids. And that's what's I took for granted. He's taken away. And it's not just him. You know, everyone's like, oh, you just hate him. First, it's the Heritage Foundation. It's this cabal of white Christian nationalists, and they are terrifying he is not smart enough to have come up with this plan. Left to his own devices, he makes Trump vodka that goes out of business. He closes down casinos six times. He is not a smart man.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Period.

[Jim Acosta]

And you're right about the American dream slipping away. And I think that we're going to see if this thing doesn't get turned around. I mean, we're going to see the economy in. In dire straits. We're going to see people hurting.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

22,000 jobs this month.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Yeah, Right. And people are. You know, he fired half the federal government. I mean, this man has done so much damage and he hasn't even been in for a year. And look at the damage he has done. What will it take, America? What will it take?

[Jim Acosta]

And he won't admit that he's wrong about the terrorist.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

You got to believe in something bigger than him, even if you can't admit you were fooled. You got to believe in the values of this country. You got to believe in equality for all. That's what we're founded on, people. Come on.

[Jim Acosta]

And you and I were talking about this the other day at lunch. The. The America that you and I grew up in is being wiped away.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

It already is gone, honey. Yeah, it's gone. My kids all tell me, And I have five children. The older group is 22 to 30. And they say we'll never be able to buy a house, Mom. We'll never be able to have a normal life with a car and a job and two jobs that we can work and have kids. It's gone to us. That dream that was promised that they worked for, you know, no longer available. You know, people become English majors. Look at AI. Do we need any English majors? Like, we're automizing the workforce. We're getting rid of community. We have no social programs to protect the underprivileged. We have become a country that is unrecognizable. And it is very sad and terrifying. And if you care about it at all, you've got to use your voice now in every way that you can.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

I'm so with you, Rosie, on that. I mean, I was raised by a single mom. She worked in restaurants. Growing up helped me get to college. She took. She even took out loans while I was in college so I can keep going.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And so on happened then. Right? But when you went to college, you were promised a life with a good paying job. That's no longer the case. Yeah, it's no longer the case.

[Jim Acosta]

I didn't grow up with a mountain of debt. I had student loans and stuff like that, but it wasn't in the hundreds of thousands of dollars that people have now. I don't know how they, they're supposed to cope with that.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And people can't cope with it. They can't. And it's unfair to expect them to. And as parents in their 60s or children in their 30s are suffering, they're suffering in ways that we did not. And they've lived through Covid in their formative years. They, you know, survived 9, 11 when they were 7. My son was 7 when that happened.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Everything in his world changed, from dragons and King Arthur to army men and tanks. Everything changed in our world when we had armed guards on the George Washington Bridge.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And the other thing that, the other thing that people wouldn't tolerate anymore is, is our president being a crook and his family enriching themselves on the presidency. I just read that Eric Trump is apparently now a billionaire. When did that happen?

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And nobody's checking this. Nobody's checking what he's doing. You know, Jimmy Carter had to like sell his peanut farm and this bastard is doing this. And everyone is just going fotio dot do. His kids shouldn't be allowed to do business since they stole from a cancer charity. And he can no longer do business. The Trump family in New York, because New York people can see him for who he is. He is a criminal con man and not even a good one.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And they're going to give him a plane and he's going to charge the taxpayers.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Like there's no emoluments clause. Like you can just bribe him and he can blackmail people, including nudes stations and universities. And the universities, do they come together as one?

[Producer Matt]

No.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Does. Does one of them have to be out there? Columbia standing up by itself. Can't Harvard and Yale and everyone know? Because all these people have this billionaire goals to collect the most money and screw the most people. What they do with Medicaid is unconscionable.

[Jim Acosta]

I agree. And that those chickens are coming home to roost. When, when people in MAGA world realize, oh, I don't have my, my Medicaid isn't covering these doctor's bills or this hospital visit or my mother.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Mom, now that we can't have anyone to cover the nursing home, where are we going to put mom? Who's going to stay home and take mom because we can't afford a private nurse? What's going to happen to our society? And this is all in his plan because he doesn't care about any of us, Any of us besides himself. I don't even think he cares about his own family. I really don't. The way that he, you know, the way that he functions in the world is a man without empathy. And, you know, why are people so afraid of him? Why are they so terrified of him?

[Jim Acosta]

I don't. I don't get it. I don't get it. But, you know, one of the things that he's doing that is causing fear. I mean, I'm here in Washington, D.C. he sent the National Guard in the Washington D.C. and that wasn't enough. They had to say, oh, the Guard can be armed. They can carry weapons. How sick is that?

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Well, who called for an insurrection.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And then did not call the National Guard to come help people. And people died and got hurt. That is on him and his assassination attempt. A man died during that assassination attempt. A man died.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

And it wasn't him.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Miraculously healed, ladies and gentlemen. Will anyone in the news ever say that without couching it? His ear miraculously regenerated. People, what else do you need?

[Jim Acosta]

Well, I. I just want to show his hand. I mean, you know, the other thing too is we should show the hand if we still have the picture. I mean, this is the weirdest shit. He puts this weird makeup on his hand. And if I were in the White House press corps these days, I would be asking questions all the time about his health. Peter Doocy used to ask questions about Joe Biden, whether he was going to die every day of the week. He asked him, are you going to die today? It was like almost every day he would do that on Fox. Nobody asked. Hardly anybody asked.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Because they don't want him to call them a name. They don't want him to say that they're fake news. Why? Why won't they ask him? This man needs people to stand up to him. Every person who faces him has to challenge him. You acquiesce to this kind of a villain and the country is over.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

And they're throwing bags out the window and he's saying, it's AI.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Oh, that's AI. Yeah, that's AI. First of all, they don't even open those windows. You told me. Right?

[Jim Acosta]

There it is right there.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Have those windows open because of bullets that could come through and whatnot. Someone's throwing crap out of the Lincoln Bedroom and everyone is going, fotio, dodo. I know he can do whatever he wants, no matter how absurd or obscene.

[Jim Acosta]

And my solution is, is that the. The press corps should band together and Say, we're not going to go into the Oval Office, we're not going to take your pictures, we're not going to give you your coverage. And they won't do it. I mean, if they were to do that and say, we're not going to give you your. That's all he cares about, is seeing his, his face on tv.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Well, and he cares about people making fun of him. You know, this all started with me and him because I made fun of his hair, because I told people the truth about him, because I did what every male comedian had done in the history of his life, made fun of him. And he went crazy. And he's still going crazy now. There was a photo that came out. I don't know if it was AI or not, but he had on the red hat. He was very swollen. It looked like he didn't even have a neck. I didn't know if the picture was real or not, but people had been posting it. I put it up. I think he saw that picture and then he thought, I'm gonna make an ugly picture of her. And he did. That's what I think happened. And it's amazing to me that with all that's going on in the world, he has time to worry about a comedian living in Ireland.

[Jim Acosta]

And he's looking at your social media. He's obsessed. It's obviously teenagers. There are other teenagers, social media and wondering why did they go out and not invite me or call me for, you know, the party or whatever. And it's childish.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

He is obviously in the throes of dementia. He's not able to create new memories. He's holding on to things from so long ago. I mean, all the references that he makes are so dated and antiquated and he's looking for words and searching and repeating words. He has no fluency of speech, he has no tonal inflections.

[Producer Matt]

He.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

There is something really wrong. Speak to a doctor. If that was your father, you would be forced to help him. Yeah, but no one's helping him.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, his kids are too busy getting rich.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Well, right, of course, because that's the only value in that family is money. They measure everything in money.

[Jim Acosta]

But you are so sad. But you're living a good life over there in Ireland. You're going to be touring, you're going to be down in Australia is what I saw.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Yes, I'm going down to Australia. I did a one woman show. He is not prominently featured. It talks about moving here and my life at 63 and raising an autistic child and I'll go there in for the month of October and then come back for the holidays. We have family here, so we will go up and spend it with them. And you know, it's, it's been lovely here, I have to say. But to say that I'm not devastated by what's going on in the United States is wrong. I am. And you know, I try not to obsess, but on the whole obsession has worked in my life for me. When I obsess about something, it usually comes true. And, you know, I can manifest well, they say, but I'm worried and I'm.

[Producer Matt]

Yep.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Or not. They like or don't like me. It has nothing to do with me. This is about us as a nation, as a people. This is about the founding fathers and what our country is and stands for. And will we let this oligarchy, oligarch, this Russian wannabe oligarch, come in and take over the country and make it a fascist regime? Do you want freedom, America, or do you not? Because if you don't, the time has come.

[Jim Acosta]

That's right. And we can't have secret police officers, ice police officers, roaming the streets with masks on, picking people up, you know, and throwing them in the back of vans and that sort of, I mean.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

That'S what we're seeing right now, Third world countries do. Right. That's what third, Third world countries do. Wearing masks. All of them wearing masks, getting paid bonuses more than a teacher makes to go join to harass your fellow citizens.

[Jim Acosta]

Yeah, well, I, I mean, I, I think, you know, if you'd ever come back, you know, you'd be a part of something that's just going to get bigger and bigger. And I, I mean, we're already starting to see it now. The no Kings Day that we had back in June. Apparently there's another one coming up in October.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

People are starting to rise up, black out the system. Look for that. Go to blackoutthesystem.org and find out all about that. But you know, it's going to take what happened in South Korea, people going into the streets and not leaving until he's out. That's what you have to do when there has been a coup in your country and there has been a coup in our country.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

Well, Rosie, I always love talking to you. When we had lunch the other day, I was saying when you got up and let your daughter in law, I, I was saying to the folks, I said, when I had lunch with Rosie the other day, there were no strings attached. I did not intend, I was not coming to ask you or, you know, please come on my show or anything like that.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

We're people. I, we met because I was impressed by what you did at cnn and I reached out to you, and then we've gotten to be friends now. And that's the truth. And that's how it happens in real life. You know, that's how it happens. People are actual friends in real life and they have strange jobs where, you know, why don't you shut up? Because I have a microphone and when I don't have one anymore, I'll shut up.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

So, you know, people ask me to come and speak and what do I think? I'm gonna say it. I'm gonna say it because that's what our country is about.

[Jim Acosta]

And you should.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Yes.

[Jim Acosta]

Last time I checked, First Amendment's still there. The Constitution protects your right to free speech and you can exercise it however you want.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Exactly.

[Jim Acosta]

No matter what he thinks.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

No matter what he thinks. And remember, it's bigger than him, ladies and gentlemen. And the beast we're fighting is not just that round guy in an orange spray tan. It's a big cabal of powerful white men and it's time to end it.

[Producer Matt]

Yeah.

[Jim Acosta]

Rosie, great to see you. Thank you so much. I'll let you attend to family matters. As the viewer says right there, don't let the bastards win. That's we'll end on.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Got it. Totally true.

[Jim Acosta]

Thank you.

[Rosie O'Donnell]

Thank you, Jim. Thanks, everybody.

[Jim Acosta]

Take care. God bless you. All right, you hang in there. All right, bye bye. That's Rosie. And you know, listen, I, I, I, my philosophy for today's show is this, sort of let Rosie speak. And she's done that. She responded to Donald Trump. You know, I, and it was weird because I, I had just gotten back from Ireland, I woke up, I look at my phone and Trump's going after Rosie o'. Donnell. I'm thinking to myself, this is the President of the United States. What, what is wrong with him? You know, he, he has his little press conferences, if you want to call them that, in the Oval Office where they, they call in a hand picked White House press corps. Now it's not even the press corps that selects who goes in anymore. It's the White House that, Are people aware of this? That the White House now selects who goes into the Oval Office now? And they can deny people if, if they don't like what you're doing are people, I hope people are aware of that. But anyway, he has those things, he has all of, he's the, he's the President of the United States. He has the biggest megaphone, and yet he can't resist going on social media to take a shot at Rosie o'. Donnell. It is just the most ridiculous, crazy thing. And so I had just gotten back from Ireland. I had lunch with Rosie. I'm thinking to myself, you know, we should, we should talk and let's do this. And she was just so, just so nice and generous to give us some of your time. And as you can see, she's busy. She's, you know, she's, she's continuing with her career. She makes media appearances. She does one woman shows. She's got one coming up in Australia. But as you saw, her kid showed up at the door, and she got up and answered the door, as a good parent should. You don't let your kids stand at the door wondering, why can't I get in the house? Because Mom's doing a podcast. You get up and you do that. But I think Rosie hit on something during our conversation just now. We were talking about it at lunch the other day. This is one of the reasons why I thought this would be great to do this is that it does feel like it's slipping away. It does feel like that. And you have to, you have to wonder when the jobs report comes out and it says 22,000 jobs were created last month. And, and by the way, this is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that is no longer headed by the person he fired. He fired the person at the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics because he didn't like the numbers that were coming out. So he, he fired that person. And I guess the agency is still running and doing jobs reports, and they put out an even shittier jobs report. So who does he fire next? Because he doesn't like this jobs report. It doesn't matter if you how much lipstick or orange makeup you put on the pig. The pig's a pig. Bad jobs report's a bad jobs report. The, the big beautiful Boulder of bullshit bill, they're renaming it because it's so unpopular. It's so ridiculously unpopular, which is what everybody predicted. Even Republicans were privately predicting this is, this is going to go down like, like Drano. And, and that's what's happening. And so, you know, RFK Jr gets up in front of a Senate committee and just embarrasses himself and embarrasses this country. These are the people that Donald Trump has put in these very important positions. And so, you know, one of the things that I picked up on talking to Rosie about all this is that even though she's all the way over in Ireland now, she deeply cares about what's happening in this country. She has opinions on all of this just like anybody else. But because Donald Trump doesn't like her opinions, he threatens to take away her citizenship. It's un American. It's not right. It's not who we are. First of all, the president, United States should be busy with other things like not having a shitty jobs report and not having a shitty economy where people get left behind. He, he goes to these MAGA rallies and talks about how he's this savior for the poor. He's screwing the poor. He is screwing poor people in this country, taking away their health insurance, taking away the safety net. The, the, the, the big beautiful bill is so God awful when it comes to Medicaid, it could imperil Medicare. Look it up. That's been reported. That's been out there. And so as Rosie was saying a few moments ago, grandma's not going to be able to live in the nursing home because Medicaid won't pick up the tab if this bill unleashes the kind of pain that we're expecting it to unleash. And a lot of the experts were saying if you continue to do what you're doing to the economy, you destabilize the global economy with tariffs and so on, you're going to end up with shitty jobs reports. Companies are not going to want to hire. Companies are going to say, we don't know what we should do. We don't know how much money we should spend because Trump is so goddamn unpredictable. We don't know what to do with our own bloody company. And so then they don't hire people. And I don't know why this is so damn hard to figure out. Rosie's got me a little fired up this morning, which is okay. So my thanks to Rosie o', Donnell, my thanks to all of you for tuning in. I think we tried to do a couple of little experiments this morning. I think we were trying to go live on Instagram as well. I may have screwed that up. That's on me. That's not on anybody else. That's on me. But we'll try to iron out the kinks for next time. But I think we got out good live on Substack because we were seeing the viewer comments, I believe, on YouTube and some of the places. Well, we're going to try to experiment this from time to time. The other thing that we might try to experiment with is doing the occasional morning show. It says the Jim Acosta Show. We might call it Acosta in the Morning, I don't know. But my call just something else. I was thinking the Breakfast Squad because then the initials could be BS which, you know, we can just BS around, you know, I don't know. We got like a lot of ideas. Let us some of the names you like. There you go. Let us know some of the names you like. And my thank, my thanks to my producer Matt also for getting things going earlier this morning. And thanks to all of you for tuning in at this early hour. We don't typically go on this early, but to join the conversation, subscribe, make your voice count. Also, if you're watching on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe button, the like button. If you're watching on Substack, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. Support the work that we do. And thanks everybody for tuning in. I'll see you later on this afternoon. I've got Jake Auchincloss and Ezra Levin. They're going to be coming up at 4:00 Eastern Time. And I'll be right back here live again. So thanks for tuning in. Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. Have a great day. Happy Friday.