Los Angeles, Sep 25 : Veteran Hollywood star Robert De Niro has launched a scathing attack against the US Presidential runner from the Republican party, Donald Trump.

The Hollywood legend has accused him of wanting to "destroy" America, and branded the scandal-hit Republican a "clown" who will become a "dictator for life" if re-elected in the November election, reports 'Mirror.co.uk'.

De Niro mocked him for being incapable of doing anything that requires "structure", let alone running the country.

As per 'Mirror.co.uk', the actor spoke at the New York premiere of Francis Ford Coppola's 'Megalopolis' in New York City recently where he said, "Just imagine Donald Trump directing this film. It'll never go anywhere, from total craziness. He cannot do anything. He cannot hold anything together ... He wants to destroy the country. And he could not do this movie. He could not do anything that has a structure'.

The movie about a decaying Roman metropolis raises several political issues that are not so different to those America is facing today, with the director noting, "What's happening in America, in our republic, in our democracy is exactly how Rome lost their republic thousands of years ago." De Niro warned: "I see the things in Francis' film about that, the parallels and so on'.

"To me, it's not over 'till it's over and we have to go at this wholeheartedly to beat the Republicans, those Republicans, they're not real Republicans and beat Trump. It's that simple. We cannot have that type of person. Everybody has to get out there and vote'.

The 'Raging Bull' star had previously said he wanted to punch Trump, 78, in the face. The actor, in fact, took a leading role in a campaign to re-elect 81-year-old Democrat Joe Biden before he quit as president.

He said: "When Trump ran in 2016, it was like a joke... the Twin Towers fell just over here, just over there. This part of the city was like a ghost town, but we vowed we would not allow terrorists to change our way of life'.

/IANS