Even some of Donald Trump’s most devoted followers recoiled at his suggestion that Hollywood director Rob Reiner was killed because of his own “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
A day after Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele Reiner, 68, were found murdered at their Los Angeles home on Sunday, Trump attacked the filmmaker in a Truth Social post, portraying him as a “struggling” man with “obvious paranoia” who had brought his death upon himself due to his “raging obsession” with the president.
“A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS,” Trump wrote.
“He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”
Reiner, who later became a prominent figure in Democratic politics, used his fame to advocate for causes such as marriage equality and gun reform and had repeatedly clashed with the 79-year-old president over his policies.
Trump’s post, which garnered more than 5,000 replies on Truth Social within two hours, drew swift condemnation from users who typically laud him on the platform.
“Not classy. Expect better of you, Mr President,” one reply read. “Terrible post and I am a big Trump supporter,” another user wrote. “Take it down!”
Others noted that prominent Republicans had condemned the Reiners’ killing without politicizing it.
“This is a horrible post. Not at all Christian. We do not do this,” one supporter wrote. “X is filled with conservatives paying their respects - all saying while we may not have agreed politically - we pray for his family and are saddened by this act of violence. POTUS has not been reading the room for many months now - his instinct may be hindered by those around him - many of whom are not American First.”
Conservative activists and media personalities aligned with Trump also criticized the president’s heartless post.
“What happened last night to Rob Reiner and his wife was a savage butchering of 2 human lives,” conservative activist Robby Starbuck wrote to his nearly 900,000 followers on X on Monday morning. “I don’t care what their politics were or how they felt about Trump, no law abiding human deserves this. We should pray for + send condolences to his loved ones and NOT make it political.”
“Don’t love this, to be honest,” former Breitbart editor and Steve Bannon confidant Raheem Kassam wrote on X in response to Trump’s post.
Republican lawmakers who have previously broken with Trump were also quick to condemn the silence of party leaders who declined to address the president’s remarks.
“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” Trump foe Rep. Thomas Massie wrote on X. “I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”
Late Monday, Turning Point USA spokesman Andrew Kolvet shared a clip of Piers Morgan interviewing Reiner following the killing of activist Charlie Kirk in September.
“That should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are,” Reiner said of Kirk’s murder at the time.“That’s not acceptable, that’s not a solution to solving problems.”
Kolvet’s post, which has amassed 1.8 million views as of Monday afternoon, is captioned: “Rob Reiner responded with grace and compassion to Charlie’s assassination. This video makes it all the more painful to hear of he and his wife’s tragic end. May God be close to the broken hearted in this terrible story.”
Reiner, a popular sitcom actor before shifting to directing and overseeing films such as When Harry Met Sally, Stand By Me, and The Princess Bride, and his wife were found by authorities in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on Sunday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
The Reiner family confirmed the deaths through a spokesperson. Reiner’s son, Nick Reiner, 32, was taken into custody Sunday night on unspecified charges and is being held on $4 million bail, according to court records.
The couple married in 1989 and had three children: Nick, Jake, and Romy.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
