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On Sunday, the police found famed director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, dead in their home in Los Angeles.
The couple’s death is being investigated as a homicide. People magazine is reporting that their son, Nick, is responsible for the murders although the police have yet to announce any suspects or arrests.
Here’s how the president of the United States responded to the news on Monday morning:
This is not a joke. This is a real message from the president.
Less than 24 hours after Reiner and his wife were murdered in their home, the nation’s most prominent politician blamed their deaths on “the anger [Reiner] caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease knows as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
To follow that logic, Trump is saying that whoever killed the Reiners did so because Rob was an outspoken critic of the president. How could he know that? Who knows!
But trying to track Trump’s logic here gives what he said above too much credit. Because here’s the simple fact: That statement is utterly classless. It shows a total and complete lack of empathy. It is beneath — WAY beneath — the standard of behavior we should expect from our leaders.
Which is not to say I am shocked that Trump said it. It proves several things we already know about him:
Everything that happens in the world is about him
People who disagree with him politically are evil — and deserve whatever they get
I know he views the world this way. And I also know this is a molehill, not a mountain. This is not tariffs. Or Trump’s attempted restructuring of American foreign policy. Or the various ways he is trying to stretch the Constitution to expand executive power. The 2026 midterms will not be affected by Trump’s sentiments on the Reiners’ death.
And yet, I felt myself compelled to say something. Because what really bothers me is not that Trump said this but that it will be applauded and laughed at by his supporters. Or, maybe even more worrisome, it will be ignored or written off because Trump gets the big things right — or something.
The character of who we elect matters. It has to. And yet, we not only elected Trump but re-elected him knowing that this is exactly who he is — and always will be. In fact, plenty of people voted for him because he is willing to say awful things like this.
It’s not Trump that worries me. It’s the people who celebrate or ignore this sort of stuff. Because Trump won’t be president forever. But we will have to keep finding ways to live with each other. And right now we aren’t doing a great job of it.
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