Robert De Niro became emotional near the end of an interview with MS NOW host Nicolle Wallace as he spoke about bringing people together and the country’s political direction. His reported message was that people should lift one another up, resist division and protect the country.
What happened in the interview
Mediaite reported on February 23, 2026, that De Niro choked up near the close of a roughly 40-minute sit-down with Wallace for MS NOW’s The Best People. Wallace asked about his tendency to lift up the people around him. De Niro answered by urging people to support one another and come together, then connected that appeal to the state of the country. Mediaite’s account describes the exchange and attributes his words to the interview.
Fox News published a video clip on February 24, describing De Niro as emotional and teary-eyed while summarizing his appeal as a call to resist the Trump administration. The dates refer to the reports’ publication: Mediaite’s article appeared February 23 and Fox News’s clip February 24. Fox News’s clip is dated February 24.
What De Niro reportedly said
Mediaite attributes this wording to De Niro: “You have to – you have to lift people up.” He continued: “You have to bring them together,” and “You can’t divide people you can’t win that way.”
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Fox News’s account gives a slightly different transcription and punctuation: “You have to,” he said, starting to cry. “You have to lift people up. You have to bring them together. Period. You can’t divide people. You can’t win that way. It’s a no-win situation.” Fox News also reports him saying, “So it’s up to us to protect the country.”
The reports agree on the central message, but their wordings are not identical. The full original recording or transcript is not established by these reports, so the passages above should be treated as wording attributed by each outlet rather than a definitive transcript.
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Why the moment was described as emotional
The emotion came as De Niro moved from a general idea—lifting people up—to a warning about division and the country’s political direction. The headline phrase “bursts into tears” is a characterization; the reports describe him as choking up, emotional or teary-eyed. The available accounts do not establish a diagnosis or justify reading more into his reaction than the visible emotion they describe.
His remarks about Trump and the country are De Niro’s political viewpoint. The reports describe what he said; they do not independently establish his claims about the administration or the effects of its policies.
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