The late Rob Reiner, a director known for a repertoire of genre-bending, empathetic films, was also a champion for democracy and a vocal critic of President Donald Trump.
Reiner, who was found dead alongside his wife, Michele, in their L.A. mansion on Dec. 14th, consistently used his platform to comment on Trump and his policies. His disdain for Trump aligned with his activism for human rights. Reiner was a long-time advocate for liberal causes, playing a critical role in getting California’s gay marriage ban overturned.
Trump reacted to Reiner’s death on Monday by bizarrely alleging that Reiner died “due to the anger he caused others” and that he “drove people crazy by his raging obsession” with the president.
“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 on Truth Social.
Since 2016, Reiner campaigned against Trump’s run for the presidency, endorsing Hilary Clinton and then Joe Biden. The Emmy Award-winning director fiercely opposed the president on a range of issues, from Trump’s autocratic tendencies to his bigotry to his questionable friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Reiner even served on the advisory board of the Committee to Investigate Russia, a nonprofit dedicated to the Trump administration’s relationship with Russia.
In 2017, Reiner said Trump is “mentally unfit” to be president during a conversation with Variety at the Dubai International Film Festival.
“Donald Trump is the single-most unqualified human being to ever assume the Presidency of the United States,” Reiner said. “He is mentally unfit. Not only does he not understand how government works, he has no interest in trying to find out how it works.” In the same interview, Reiner said journalism is “under attack” thanks to Trump and “the propaganda arm of his administration.”
In the run-up to the 2024 election, Reiner spoke about the threat to democracy that Trump posed, saying the current president leads with an authoritarian fist and has no concern for democracy.
“You have one candidate, Trump, who actually tells you he’s going to govern like an authoritarian,” Reiner said in a 2023 interview with MS Now, speaking about Biden’s bid for president against Trump. “[Trump] says it–it’s not a mystery.”
“Do we want fascism or do we want to continue the 248 years of self-rule?” Reiner asked back then. “Do we want to continue democracy or do we want to slip into fascism?”
The director reflected often on Trump’s unabashed rhetoric, telling the Guardian that Trump has said “he wants to destroy the constitution, go after his political enemies and turn America into an autocracy.”
In an interview with the Daily Beast in September of this year, Reiner commented once again on the “disturbing” headlines that have overtaken American newspapers thanks to Trump’s rule. “It’s nightmarish, what is happening in America,” he said, though he maintained optimism that people will wake up to the crisis. “I’m hoping we’ll survive this. And if we do, it’s going to take a long time to rebuild the shining city on the hill, the beacon to the rest of the world.”
Reiner also told the Daily Beast in 2017 that he’s “never seen anything” like Trump and his reign. “To have a president who is so ignorant, so egotistical and a pathological liar — and he definitely has some kind of mental challenges, I don’t know what it is, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Similarly, he told Late Show host Stephen Colbert that he’s never seen anything like Trump’s ego, mocking the president in a 2018 interview.
As recently as October, Reiner said America’s current political climate is “beyond McCarthy-era-esque.”
“Make no mistake: we have a year until this country becomes a full-on autocracy and democracy completely leaves us,” Reiner told MS Now. “Donald Trump knows that in a free and fair election, he will lose. He will lose the house.”
“We have to make the public absolutely aware that their democracy is being taken away from them,” he emphasized, touching upon the importance of education and the role of artists and educators, like himself, in this fight. “We have to do everything we can…”
Democratic leaders have recognized Reiner’s tireless advocacy since his passing. California Governor Gavin Newsom, former President Barack Obama, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have all released statements acknowledging the couple’s political activism and compassion.
Notably, Reiner’s wife, Michele, captured the portrait of Trump that appeared on his best-selling book, The Art of the Deal, published in 1987. Michele and her husband collaborated on political pursuits together, including launching a national campaign for children’s health and well-being.
“Together, [Reiner] and his wife lived lives defined by purpose,” President Obama said in a statement. “They will be remembered for the values they championed and the countless people they inspired.”
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