President Donald Trump faced blowback from fellow Republicans Monday after he baselessly suggested that legendary director and actor Rob Reiner died because of Reiner’s anti-Trump views, injecting politics into the killing at a time when other conservatives expressed condolences.
Reiner, Trump wrote on Truth Social, was killed “due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known and sometimes referred to as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”
Trump’s comments are not supported by currently available public information from authorities. He prefaced his allegations by saying the killings were “a very sad thing.”
Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Los Angeles home Sunday afternoon, apparently from stab wounds, according to a person close to the family. The couple’s son Nick Reiner has been arrested in connection with their deaths, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation. Nick Reiner has spoken publicly about his struggles with addiction and homelessness.
Trump crossed paths with Michele Singer Reiner earlier in their careers; she was the photographer who took the famous picture of Trump that appeared on the cover of his 1987 book, "The Art of the Deal."
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what information Trump might have about a motive for the killings.
Trump later said he stood by his post when a reporter asked him about the criticism he had been receiving.
"Well, not a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person," Trump said as he was taking questions in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, adding that Reiner "was very bad for our country."
Several Republican lawmakers chastised Trump for emphasizing Reiner’s political views rather than the horrific nature of his death.
“This statement is wrong,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who sits in one of the most competitive congressional districts in the country, wrote on X. “Regardless of one’s political views, no one should be subjected to violence, let alone at the hands of their own son. It’s a horrible tragedy that should engender sympathy and compassion from everyone in our country, period.”
Republicans who criticize Trump have long risked alienating MAGA voters, whose support will be critical to vulnerable incumbents in next year’s midterm elections. Lawler’s decision to push back may suggest that he believes he is on safe ground — even with hard-core Trump voters — in expressing a contrary view on Reiner.
Two other House Republicans, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, both of whom have clashed with Trump in recent months, blasted him Monday on X.
“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.”
Reiner was a Trump critic and a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes, including having given more than $150,000 to the Democratic presidential candidates’ “victory fund” during the 2024 election cycle. He was also a prominent figure who voiced his view, in the wake of conservative Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, that violence is not an answer to political disagreement.
“I don’t care what your political beliefs are: That’s not acceptable,” Reiner told interviewer Piers Morgan, expressing his “absolute horror” at Kirk’s shooting. Andrew Kolvet, the spokesman for Kirk’s group, Turning Point USA, posted the Morgan-Reiner interview Sunday night, before Trump’s social media post. Kolvet praised Reiner for responding “with grace and compassion to Charlie’s assassination.”
Morgan called on Trump to delete his post about Reiner, posting on X, “This is a dreadful thing to say,” and referred to his son’s arrest.
Trump also faced immediate backlash online, including from conservative activists like Robby Starbuck, a filmmaker and leading advocate against corporate and government diversity, equity and inclusion policies.
“What happened last night to Rob Reiner and his wife was a savage butchering of 2 human lives,” Starbuck wrote in response to Trump. “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.”
Raheem Kassam, editor of the conservative publication The National Pulse, posted on X over an image of Trump’s statement.
“Don’t love this, to be honest,” Kassam wrote.
Jenna Ellis, a former Trump campaign lawyer, told NBC News that she is “grateful to see other Trump supporters and prominent conservative voices likewise encourage the president to reconsider and delete this comment.”
In her own X post, she called Trump’s message “NOT the appropriate response” to the killings.
“The Right uniformly condemned political and celebratory responses to Charlie Kirk’s death,” Ellis wrote. “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.”
Trump’s take stood in stark contrast to the reactions of many MAGA figures, including those who were vocal following Kirk’s death. Some at the time accused the political left of insensitivity because certain progressives pointed to Kirk’s beliefs to explain anger toward him. On Sunday night and early Monday, they largely expressed sympathy for Reiner.
“RIP, Rob Reiner,” Alex Bruesewitz, a top Trump ally and social media influencer, posted on X along with an emoji of praying hands.
Later Monday, he said he takes no issue with Trump’s post and does not believe it dilutes the softer tone other MAGA figures struck.
“I don’t think it undermines us,” Bruesewitz said. “It’s ok for people to have different reactions. Rob Reiner was really nasty towards the President. He said many hateful things like he was a symbol of hate, he called him mentally ill, and suggested he should be arrested for treason, a crime punishable by death. I don’t blame the president for having the reaction that he had.”
Jack Posobiec, a conservative commentator who is close to the Trump administration, framed Trump’s post as an admonition rather than a celebration of Reiner’s killing. “Where is the celebration in Trump’s post? He isn’t celebrating, he is warning,” Posobiec wrote.
Still, many luminaries of the conservative movement not only sounded a different note than Trump, but also portrayed their position as the consensus on the political right.
“Notice that the American right is NOT celebrating Rob Reiner’s murder,” Bret Weinsten wrote to his 1.1 million X followers early Monday, before Trump’s post. “I see post after post honoring his remarkable contribution to our culture despite his strident embrace of progressive lunacy in his later years. This is America displaying our common humanity. May his memory, and his remarkable body of work, be a blessing to us all.”
