In a rare and striking moment, Donald Trump is facing public condemnation not just from his critics, but from his own supporters and prominent figures on the right, following a grotesque social media post made in the immediate aftermath of a double homicide involving Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Reiner.
Meanwhile, many major media companies do not have Trump’s vile post on their front page news coverage, and when they do, it is sanitized to normalize this behavior. As an independent journalist, I will not sanitize or normalize this behavior. Calling it out plainly is not partisan—it is a matter of basic human decency. Tragedy should not be exploited, and cruelty should not be excused by political allegiance.
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Trump’s post, published this morning on his Truth Social platform, attributed the couple’s deaths to what Trump described as the “anger” Reiner allegedly caused others through what he derisively labeled “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” The remark was posted just hours after news broke of the killings, a timing that even many of Trump’s allies described as indefensible.
“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,” Trump wrote.
The reaction was swift—and unusually bipartisan within Trump’s own political orbit.
Members of Congress and longtime Trump supporters publicly rebuked the president, calling the post cruel, inappropriate, and beneath the office he once held.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said the deaths constituted a family tragedy and should not be politicized, emphasizing empathy for surviving family members and noting the complexities of addiction and mental health issues that often precede acts of domestic violence.
Rep. Thomas Massie went further, openly challenging his colleagues to defend the remarks.
“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” Massie wrote. “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.”
On Truth Social itself, users who typically amplify Trump’s messaging urged him to delete the post, warning that it crossed a moral line and would alienate even sympathetic audiences.
Despite the unusual backlash, Trump’s remarks were largely absent from the front pages of major media outlets throughout the day. Coverage of the homicide focused almost exclusively on the criminal investigation, while Trump’s statement, made by a president, was treated as a secondary or ignorable detail. This was CBS News today:
The omission raised renewed concerns among media critics that Trump’s most extreme behavior continues to be normalized or minimized, a phenomenon often described as “sane-washing.”
The failure to foreground Trump’s remarks obscures a pattern: the use of tragedy as a vehicle for political dehumanization, even when the victims are private citizens and their surviving family members are still in shock.
According to law enforcement, the Reiners were found dead in their home with multiple stab wounds. Their son, Nick Reiner, was arrested in connection with the killings. Investigators cited a long history of substance abuse and instability, adding to the complexity and pain of the case.
Nick Reiner, 32, has previously spoken publicly about his struggles with addiction, including periods of homelessness and repeated attempts at rehabilitation dating back to his teenage years.
The deaths sent shockwaves through Hollywood and beyond. Rob Reiner’s career spanned decades, with major successes as an actor, director, and producer, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s. Tributes poured in from colleagues and fans worldwide—many of whom expressed disbelief that the tragedy was immediately weaponized for political messaging.
What makes the moment notable is not just the content of Trump’s remarks, but the reaction to them. Condemnation from within Trump’s own coalition remains rare. That it occurred here underscores how far beyond accepted norms the statement was perceived to be.