Meryl Streep Used Her 2017 Golden Globes Award Speech To Brutally Take Down Donald Trump

President Donald Trump has a bad habit of saying the nastiest things that come to mind to shut his opponents down, but in 2017, Meryl Streep proved that wasn't necessary. In a speech at that year's Golden Globes, she called him out in a big way — without a single insult. While accepting the Cecil B. deMille award, Streep gave a quick shout-out to all the performances she'd seen in the year prior, many of which she found incredibly moving. However, the Oscar winner admitted only one truly floored her. "It sank its hooks in my heart, not because it was good. There was nothing good about it, but it was effective, and it did its job," Streep recounted. "It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter." 

As you may recall, Trump seemingly mocked New York Times journalist Serge Kovaleski, who has arthrogryposis, by flapping his hands around wildly at a 2015 rally in what he claimed was his interpretation of Kovaleski floundering after being called out for having written something inaccurate more than a decade prior. Without mentioning the divisive politician by name, Streep confessed that she found the situation heartbreaking, lamenting the fact that someone in such a powerful position doing something that cruel had a trickle-down effect. 

"It filters down into everybody's life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing," the "Sophie's Choice" star pointed out. Streep elaborated, "When the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose." The beloved actor got a round of applause, but let's just say not everyone loved it. Take a wild guess who lashed out at her.

Surprising absolutely no one, when Donald Trump caught wind of Meryl Streep's comments, he jumped on X, formerly known as Twitter, to respond with what the president probably believed was a real zinger. "Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn't know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes," Trump began. He went on to decry the esteemed actor as a "Hillary flunky who lost big." TBD what he meant by that, since Streep had made her speech while literally collecting an award for: "Outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment." We'll chalk it up to Trump not being able to stand Streep calling him out. 

The controversial leader wasn't the only one to react negatively to her calls for people to tap into empathy rather than nastiness, though. His former senior counselor Kellyanne Conway also criticized Streep's speech, complaining on Fox News that she should have used the opportunity to call for people to support the new president instead, whether or not they liked him personally. As for Streep herself, she ultimately fired back at Trump's diss, and once again, the "Devil Wears Prada" star did it without hurling any insults. 

Far from it, while picking up another award — this time the Human Rights Campaign's National Ally for Equality Award — she quipped, "I am the most overrated and most [...] overdecorated, and currently, currently, I am the most over-berated actress [...] of my generation. But that's why you invited me here, right?" Streep also acknowledged that it was scary to call out those in power, particularly because of the threat of retaliation, but concluded that she had to, for the sake of her own convictions. Talk about a classy clapback.