In the decade since he announced his presidential campaign by branding immigrants as criminals and rapists, the accepted wisdom about Donald Trump has become this: No matter how outrageous are the things he says, he feels no consequences.
With each offensive blast, Republican elected officials are rendered mute, or tell inquiring journalists they haven’t seen the latest and quickly excuse themselves. MAGA influencers applaud and celebrate the ire Trump generates from the left as “owning the liberals.”
So what happened Monday was noteworthy — maybe a sign that there really is a limit to how low Trump can take the public discourse, maybe evidence that his powers are waning or maybe nothing more than an anomalous disturbance in the force.
There was actual blowback from some on the right over the president’s reaction to the stabbing deaths of Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, allegedly at the hands of their 32-year-old sonwho had struggled for years with addiction and mental illness. As Trump is wont to do, he made it all about himself.
The president described the tragedy this way on the Truth Social media platform that has become an outlet for his id: “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.”
Reiner, Trump wrote, “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!”
This was too much for a handful of conservative influencers who have large followings of their own.
“What happened last night to Rob Reiner and his wife was a savage butchering of 2 human lives. 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,” filmmaker Robby Starbuck wrote on X.
British broadcaster Piers Morgan, a longtime friend of Trump, wrote: “This is a dreadful thing to say about a man who just got murdered by his troubled son. Delete it, Mr President.”
And even a few Republicans in Congress — albeit those such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia) and Thomas Massie (Kentucky) who have already had their differences with Trump — spoke out. Massie wrote: “Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered. 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.”
Reiner, who directed what are regarded as a host of modern Hollywood’s finest films, was a major force in Democratic politics and a frequent critic of the president. His shocking and violent death drew immediate comparisons with the assassination in September of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.
Andrew Kolvet, spokesman for Kirk’s organization Turning Point USA, posted a video on X in which Reiner described his reaction to Kirk’s death as “horror — absolute horror.” Kolvet wrote: “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.”
But that “grace and compassion” was not universal in the country’s overheated political environment. After Kirk’s death, some of his critics faced blistering criticism for making harsh comments about him.
As news of Reiner’s death spread, “liberals are desperately searching for a prominent conservative mocking Rob Reiner and his wife passing,” a MAGA commentator who posts as Gunther Eagleman wrote on X, a platform where he has 1.6 million followers. Trump’s blast came nine hours later.
“A man and his wife were murdered last night. This is NOT the appropriate response,” wrote Jenna Ellis, a former attorney pardoned by Trump for her involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. “The Right uniformly condemned political and celebratory responses to Charlie Kirk’s death. This is a horrible example from Trump (and surprising considering the two attempts on his own life) and should be condemned by everyone with any decency.”
Others on the right, however, quickly fell in line behind Trump. After predicting “You won’t see people on the right celebrating the horrific murder of Rob Reiner and his wife,” Jack Posobiec (3.2 million followers) wrote on X: “Where is the celebration in Trump’s post? He isn’t celebrating, he is warning.”
And GOP congressional leaders, were true to form. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) declined to comment on Trump’s outburst, saying only: “It’s a tragedy, and my sympathies and prayers go out the Reiner family and to their friends.”
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