“He doesn’t mean we want to Make America Great Again; he means we want to make America straight and white.” -Cher

Cher’s feelings about Donald Trump have not been a secret to anyone familiar with her Twitter feed. But on Sunday, at a Clinton campaign event in Provincetown, Massachusetts, the pop star went a step further than one usually finds in political speeches, even from celebrity campaigners. Specifically, she called Trump, the new face of the Republican Party, “a f***ing idiot,” and compared him to despots, Hitler and Stalin.

Cher, 70, was speaking at a private fund-raiser for the billionaire businessman’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. About Trump’s success, she said, “No one’s more surprised than him. He wants the crowds; he wants the adulation—he doesn’t give a shit about the work.” Invoking the film The Bad Seed, she told the crowd “He’s so Patty McCormack, consummate liar, doesn’t care who she hurts, insane.” Before an enthusiastic crowd, Cher also said of Trump: “Do you remember ‘Fun with Dick and Jane’? It’s like racist fun with Dick and Jane.”

Cher, who has been campaigning with Mrs Clinton, offered praise, though with a few caveats. “She is shy and she’s not the greatest speaker in the world,” Cher said. “But this is what I believe and this is what I know. I know she will work every moment of every day.”

After the event, Cher told reporters that Mr Trump was “a racist, he’s a misogynist, he’s a horrible person”.