The core message of President Trump’s 2016 campaign was that only he could take on the so-called elites to fight for working- and middle-class Americans.

It was a really, truly populist message. It took advantage of a simmering resentment for the federal government, as well as anger directed towards wealthy, coastal-dwelling Americans, many of whom work in the news and entertainment industries.

It also ignored that Trump himself is a coastal-dwelling member of the gilded class, a wealthy and well-known celebrity many times over. That Trump was able to sell himself as an average Joe, while getting voters to excuse and ignore his well-known background, was one of his greatest tricks.

The crazy thing is: The president's most ardent critics are doing the most to help him maintain his phony nonelite status.

That is, when Robert De Niro appeared this weekend at the 72nd Tony Awards to declare his opposition to Trump, it’s hard not to see the actor’s stakes-free moment of defiance as anything but an in-kind donation to the president’s re-election efforts. The Trump team must greatly appreciate the image of room full of roaring glitterati cheering De Niro's protestations.

The 74-year-old actor appeared at the Tonys this weekend to reiterate for the umpteenth time his opposition to the president.

"I'm going to say this: F--k Trump!" he shouted. "It's no longer ‘down with Trump.' It's f--k Trump!"

The audience, which included top Broadway performers, as well as entertainers from other mediums, leaped to their feet, clapping wildly to signal that they, too, believe all good Americans should "f--k Trump."

This isn’t new ground for De Niro. He is a known Trump critic, having referred to the president recently as a “congenital liar. A mean-spirited, soulless, amoral, abusive con-artist son of a bitch." De Niro is also known for using profanities during awards ceremonies to denounce the president. In short, this crowd is easily amused:

Here's video of DeNiro swearing at Trump on #TonyAwards

Australian feed didnt censor it. pic.twitter.com/KZNrT8UIyH — Rhett Bartlett (@dialmformovies) June 11, 2018

If the image of De Niro, surrounded by whooping and cheering members of the elite class, denouncing the president doesn’t appear in a pro-Trump campaign ad, I’ll consider eating my hat.

I dislike the “this is how you got Trump” cliche as much as the next writer, but there’s something to say here for the self-defeating nature of these self-indulgent celebrity protests.

Trump’s populist credentials rely on him obscuring that he is one of the elite. The man who quite literally lives in a golden tower in New York City needs working- and middle-class voters to believe he “gets it.” So, when actors, singers, songwriters, directors, dancers, et cetera come out in droves to denounce the president, and when they do so in as public and notable a fashion as De Niro, it only strengthens Trump’s position that he’s not a top-tier kind of guy.

These stupid, meaningless protests allow the president to position himself convincingly as a counterbalance to the so-called Hollywood and government elites, as an outsider who is in it to fight for working voters.

It may not be true that Trump is himself removed from this group, but what else is the average voter supposed to believe when they see basically everyone in the designated “elite” class denouncing the president?

It was a terribly self-indulgent gesture that did no good politically and marred the dignity of the rest of the evening. https://t.co/Ymk0zaQZQy — Walter Shapiro (@MrWalterShapiro) June 11, 2018

[Also read: Robert De Niro apologizes to Canadians for Trump's 'idiotic behavior']