A prominent public figure who was outspoken about his politics was brutally killed on Sunday, and Republicans would like you to know that they would never, under no circumstances, mock or minimize a tragedy to score political points.
Unless the president does it first.
The reaction to the death of famed director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer, who were allegedly murdered at their Los Angeles home by their son Nick, fell largely into national grief for the man behind films such as The Princess Bride, This Is Spinal Tap, and When Harry Met Sally.
The motive behind the murders has not been established, but some conservative s — many aware of Reiner’s past criticism of President Donald Trump and his connections to prominent Democratic figures — were quick to assert that they would never dance on his grave because they disagreed with his politics.
“You won’t see people on the right celebrating the horrific murder of Rob Reiner and his wife. Compare to the Left’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder,” Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec wrote late Sunday night on social media. Several other conservatives made similar posts. “Liberals are desperately searching for a prominent conservative mocking Rob Reiner and his wife passing,” wrote MAGA commentator Gunter Eagleman.
Is the president of the United States prominent enough?
Trump wrote Monday on Truth Social that the reason Reiner had been killed was because of “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.”
“He 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,” Trump added. “May Rob and Michele rest in peace.”
Trump doubled down on his comments later on Monday, telling reporters in the Oval Office that Reiner was “deranged” and that he was “very bad for our country.”
Trump is, of course, the first person the conservative movement looks to to gauge how they should feel about something. The president’s post about Reiner was so despicable, however, that the right wasn’t sure how to proceed.
Some, like Posobiec, began scrambling to craft a defense of Trump’s post. “Rob Reiner called for Trump to be jailed over lies. Not surprised Trump said what he said,” Posobiec wrote, alongside several reposts of videos and content highlighting the director’s past criticism of the president. Eagleman shared a screen grab of Trump’s post but quoted only “May Rob and Michele rest in peace,” as if it were sincere, while ignoring the substance of the post.
Conservative columnist Kurt Schlichter in the span of a few posts went from claiming that all he had seen were “conservatives being horrified,” to telling people to “CRY MORE” about Trump’s statements.
Laura Loomer, who has advised Trump since he retook office, wrote that Reiner was “a loser.”
“Naturally, his son was also a loser, and he got addicted to drugs and allegedly murdered his parents,” she continued, attaching a fake, anti-Trump Reiner tweet for effect. “Looks like Rob should’ve spent more time parenting & less time spreading Russia conspiracy hoaxes about President Trump. I stand with President Trump.”
In raising the specter of Kirk, conservatives also renewed attention on their vengeful public crackdown against anyone who dared criticize Kirk in the aftermath of his assassination in September. Many Americans who spoke ill of Kirk after the shooting were fired from their jobswith a Reuters investigation finding that at least 600 people were “fired, suspended, placed under investigation or disciplined by employers,” for comments about Kirk.
At least a few on the right realized that after conducting such an intense campaign of public pillorying of Kirk’s critics, Trump’s comments were — at a bare minimum — a terrible look. “We can’t call out the Left for celebrating Charlie’s assassination but laugh at this because it’s a ‘mean tweet,’ wrote MAGA influencer Brilyn Hollyhand. “Taking a victory lap when a critic is killed? That’s how you lose Gen Z and independents. We can’t sit on a pedestal and condemn the Left but normalize this.”
Congressional Republicans were largely silent. The few, the proud, the ones who already have bones to pick with Trump were the most outspoken.
“This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a recently converted Trump critic, replied to the president’s post on X. “Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It’s incredibly difficult and should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder,” she added. Greene is correct, but that didn’t stop her and virtually every Republican in the MAGA movement from leveraging the addiction issues of former President Joe Biden’s son Hunter as a cudgel against the former president. Something to think about as Greene continues her attempted rebrand.
Longtime Trump critic Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) wrote in response to Trump’s post: “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.”
A few other Republicans found it in themselves to gently chide the president. “This statement is wrong,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) 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.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), who announced this summer that he will not seek reelection in a district that is expected to flip Democratic in 2026, told Axios that the post was “not presidential. The couple were stabbed to death. Most Americans want more and better from our president.”
Other influencers and commentators, including Piers Morganradio host Erick Ericksonand social media influencer Sage Steele criticized the president for being hypocritical and making Reiner’s death about himself. Greg Gutfeld awkwardly tried to reckon with Trump’s comments Monday night on Fox News. “He was asked to and he didn’t,” the host said when a panelist said he hoped the president corrects himself. “You don’t have to like the thing he says all the time. In my filter, Trump is always words versus deeds. I don’t have to like what he says. In fact, I can hate what he says. But I can also think, in his brain, he’s going, this guy compared me to Hitler, he put a target on my back, I don’t like him.”
“If it was me, I would go, like, but I’m sorry he’s dead,” Gutfeld added.
Of course, there will always be those who flat-out defend the president’s most vile acts even as they continue to brand themselves as spiritual leaders within the conservative movement.
“President Trump is not fake enough to eulogize (speak well of) his most virulent haters,” wrote Pastor Darrell Scott, who calls himself a “longtime” friend and adviser to the president. “He said what he said, and it is what it is.”
True enough.
