Donald Trump has lashed out at Oscar winner Michael Moore after the director sounded the alarm on the 80-year-old’s obsession with a third presidential term.
Moore, who won an Oscar for his 2003 documentary Bowling for Columbine, which investigated what led to the Columbine High School massacre in 1999, appeared on CNN Tuesday night to discuss the Michigan Democratic primary as polls were being counted.
His appearance triggered a furious response from Trump, who branded the director a “loser” in a 193-word Truth Social spray.
Moore, 72, threw his support behind his “friend” Abdul El-Sayed, the left-wing Democrat who eventually won Michigan’s Senate primary.
The director, who is from Flint, Michigan, has been openly vocal about supporting his hometown. In a Substack last month, he called El-Sayed’s campaign “our Zohran Mamdani moment here in the Midwest,” referencing the progressive New York mayor.
El-Sayed will now face Republican Rep. Mike Rogers in November’s general election, which Moore thinks he can win, and crush Trump’s dreams of a third presidential term.
“Believe me, I would not encourage anybody to get involved in something that’s going to give us the third Trump term,” Moore told Laura Coates on Tuesday.
“And everybody watching this knows right now this guy still hasn’t stopped thinking about the third term,” he said of the president. “So we all need to be active, we need to get up. Young people don’t give up. Don’t give up at all.”
Presidents are limited to two terms in office under the U.S. Constitution; however, Trump has frequently hinted at running for a third. In May, he even floated the idea of running for two more terms. “When I get out of office in, let’s say, eight or nine years from now,” he said during a White House small business summit.
Moore has been a vocal critic of Trump, releasing a documentary about his 2016 presidential campaign called Michael Moore in TrumpLand, and he also performed a one-man anti-Trump show on Broadway the following year.
Trump, 80, fired up over Moore in a Truth Social post sent just before 8:30 p.m on Wednesday evening.
“Michael Moore, the failed political ‘pundit’ who has been losing to me for years, was ranting that, ‘’We lost in 2024, and just can’t take it anymore.’ No Michael, just get used to more losing!,” Trump wrote. “You’ve been a Loser all your life, and nothing’s going to change.”
Trump appeared to be referring to Moore’s CNN appearance, when he was asked by Laura Coates if the Democrats required a “change in the establishment” between moderate and progressive candidates to be a valid threat to Republicans.
“If I could get on my knees and beg it would be for exactly what you said, because we are not going to win the other way,” Moore said. “We lost that way in ’24. It’s not going to happen if we allow this to happen. We are in charge of this and we need to get busy right now.”
Moore endorsed El-Sayed on X last month, saying, “At a time when too many politicians are asking what is politically safe, Abdul is asking what is morally right.”
“I’ve known Dr. El-Sayed for many years, I worked on his campaign for governor in 2018,” Moore said of his fellow Michigander. “Boy, we would be so lucky if he were our senator, representing us, and standing up for the people who are dying, dying every day over there.”
Trump’s Truth Social post continued by telling Moore that El-Sayed, “your new Communist Comrade, will not be able to save you. He knows you are a failed LOWLIFE, and he wants to pick up where you have left.”
After boasting about his administration’s “tremendous transformational SUCCESS,” Trump said in his missive to Moore, “This is the Golden Age of America, and a small group of misfits, like you, Abdul, and others, won’t be able to destroy it, and change the course of History in so doing.”
El-Sayed does not identify as a socialist or democratic socialist; however, he has received assistance from those who do, including Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and progressive influencer Hasan Piker.
He has embraced a progressive agenda, calling for across-the-board healthcare and taxing billionaires.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Moore for comment.
During an appearance in Vegas on Wednesday, Trump repeated his fearmongering over the rise of communism, ahead of the midterm elections.
“These people are dangerous, and, frankly, they are lunatics and we can’t let them get into office,” Trump said.
“Communism is the greatest threat to our country in its history, including even World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, 9/11... I think it’s the greatest threat,” he said.
Trump also took a swipe at El-Sayed, sarcastically calling him a “lovely gentleman,” before saying, “he’s full of s---.”
El-Sayed clapped back at the president on CNN’s The Source on Wednesday, saying, “I’m glad he thinks I’m a lovely gentleman, a lot of people think so.”
He claimed that Trump “can’t stay on focus,” saying, “He’s more focused on me and what I’m going to do while we’re living through an affordability crisis that is generational.”
“People are paying nearly $5 in gas because of a war he started,” El-Sayed told anchor Kaitlan Collins. “And half the time, if he’s not talking about me, he’s talking about the drapes in his ballroom.”
