Political analyst Ana Navarro ripped Shark Tank co-host Kevin O’Leary during a CNN panel for his “who-cares” attitude toward Rosie O’Donnell and her decision to move to Ireland due to frustrations over Donald Trump’s second term.
On Wednesday, O’Donnell revealed in a TikTok post that she left the U.S. when Trump took office in January, saying she wanted a “better life” for herself and her 12-year-old daughter—underscoring the deep-seated animosity between the two former television personality political figures.
Their feud, spanning nearly two decades, has been marked by high-profile clashes, insults, and frequent public jabs — making O’Donnell’s decision to leave the country a dramatic continuation of the long-running rivalry between her and Trump.
While immersing herself in her Irish heritage and making a new home in Dublin, O’Donnell confessed that she longs for her older children but refuses to set foot back in the U.S. until the nation guarantees equal rights for all its citizens, she said.
O’Donnell’s blunt reasoning drew ridicule from President Trump during an Oval Office meeting with Ireland’s prime minister on Wednesday and became prime material for O’Leary on CNN’s “NewsNight” later that evening.
“Who gives a beep about Rosie O’Donnell and where she wants to go?” O’Leary lectured the panel before stepping on his own argument. “I don’t care what celebrities think about politicians or who they want to vote for. I think the last election proved it doesn‘t matter.”
Navarro wasted no time pointing out O’Leary’s hypocrisy amid more of his usual pro-Trump blathering — and reminded him, “You are a celebrity opining on politics.”
O’Leary doubled down, echoing Trump’s dismissiveness toward O’Donnell. “If she wants to move to Phnom Penh, move to Phnom Penh. She wants to go to Ireland, great. It’s a better passport. You get an EU passport, not the British one, it‘s better. But who gives a beep about Rosie O’Donnell?”
O’Donnell gained fame as a comedian in the mid-1980s before starring in several blockbuster movies. With dozens of film credits, she went into TV productions and created her own daytime talk show in the mid-’90s. Years later, she joined the cast of The View as its moderator, where her opinions became more politicized over public controversies involving Donald Trump, as well as the handling of the second Iraq War by President George W. Bush following the 9/11 attacks.
Meanwhile, O’Leary — both reviled and respected for his hardball conservative takes —stirred more than one controversy this week by also suggesting that Elon Musk’s slash-and-burn tactics to cut federal spending didn’t go far enough.
“I think Elon is not cutting enough. Cut 20 percent more,” O’Leary proposed during a contentious CNN panel discussion on the arbitrary cuts carried out so far by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. The remarks came amid mounting outrage as tens of thousands of federal workers find themselves in the unemployment line under Trump’s policies.
“Now get your spreadsheet out. These are the names. Whack everybody and then 20 percent more, as we do in the private sector every day and have done for 100 years in private equity and higher,” O’Leary rambled on. “Back when the organization gels that way, the demoralization only happens once. You don’t want to cut multiple times, but in that more whacking, more whacking.”
Last week, Trump was forced to rein in Musk after his initial efforts to downsize the federal workforce had overstepped the authority of the Cabinet secretaries, triggering a tempestuous Cabinet meeting where officials fumed over Musk’s attempts to dictate staffing and policy decisions within their agencies.
Trump himself is facing mounting disapproval, with Republican voters among his loudest critics. Recent polls show more than half the country is dissatisfied with Trump’s performance so far, particularly as he has yet to fulfill his promise of lowering consumer prices on day one.
Known for constantly stirring political controversies, O’Leary recently blasted Costco for not falling in line with President Donald Trump’s all-out push to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives — inciting MAGA trolls on social media who called for an immediate boycott.
The Canadian businessman and investor made the remarks amid a broader crackdown on DEI initiatives nationwide, as federal agencies in Washington and major corporations rolled back their commitments after initially supporting diversity programs in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
Last year, O’Leary also suggested that Democrats “circumvented democracy” by selecting Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“This is the second time the Democratic Party has circumvented democracy,” O’Leary asserted during a segment of CNN’s “NewsNight with Abby Phillip,” sparking a raucous rebuttal among the roundtable of panelists on the show.
