Robert De Niro appeared at a “Hands Off Our Vote” rally in New York City over the weekend, leading a crowd in chants against the Trump administration’s work to clean up state voter rolls.
The event, organized by Indivisible and Hands Off NYC, also featured actor Mark Ruffalo. De Niro led attendees in repeated chants of “Keep your fucking hands off our vote!”
“When that coward, that fucking piece of shit Donald Trump tries to take our voice and power away, what do we tell him?”
De Niro told the crowd Trump was attempting to strip Democrats of their vote. He followed with the rally’s central chant and then turned to the midterms.
“Now with your commitment and support… we’re gonna send him away!” … “Take back the House! Yes! Take back the Senate! Yes! Take back the power! Yes! Take back our country! Yes!”
The Trump administration’s actual effort involves cleaning up voter rolls rather than removing eligible voters. The push has two stated aims: removing people who have died or moved out of state and are no longer eligible to vote where they’re registered, and removing noncitizens and illegal voters from the rolls.
The Department of Justice has asked states to hand over voter roll data so it can cross-check registrations against citizenship records. In July, the White House alleged that more than a quarter of a million foreign nationals illegally voted in recent elections. The DOJ has also arrested 16 migrants accused of using false information to pose as citizens and illegally cast ballots.
