Hours after Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found dead in their home in what is shaping up to be a heartbreaking family tragedy, our president blamed Reiner for his own death.
“Something very sad happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented film director and comedy star, passed away, along with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unwavering, and incurable affliction with a mentally crippling illness known as TRUMP DISORDER SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS,” President Trump wrote on his social media platform. “He was known to have driven people CRAZY with his furious obsession with President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration exceeded 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!”
Rest in peace, by the way.
It is a message steeped in cruelty and deceit, incredible and despicable even by the low, buried standard by which we have collectively come to judge Trump. In a city (and time) of selfishness and selfishness, Reiner was one of the good guys, always fighting, both through his films and his politics, to make the world kinder and closer. And yes, that meant fighting Trump and his increasingly erratic and authoritarian government.
For years, Reiner made the politics of inclusion and decency central to his life. He was a key player in repealing California's ban on same-sex marriage and fought to expand early childhood education.
For the past few months, he has been focused on the upcoming midterm elections as the last, best chance to protect American democracy, which clearly infuriated Trump.
“Make no mistake, we have a year before this country becomes a total autocracy,” Reiner told MSNBC host Ali Velshi in October. “People worry about their pocketbook problems, the price of eggs. They worry about their health care, and they should. Those are the things that affect them directly. But if they lose their democracy, all these rights, the freedom of speech, the freedom to pray however they want, the freedom to protest and not go to jail, to not be sent to the country without due process, all these things will be taken away from them.”
The Reiners' son, Nick Reiner, has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Nick Reiner has battled addiction and has been in and out of rehab. But Trump seems to be saying that if Nick is really the perpetrator, he acted for pro-Trump political reasons, which is obviously highly unlikely and, well, just a strange and crazy thing to claim.
But also deeply hypocritical.
Just a few months ago, in September, Charlie Kirk was assassinated and Trump and his MAGA regime went crazy on anyone who dared to whisper a critical word about Kirk. Trump called it “sick” and “unhinged” that anyone would celebrate Kirk's death, and blamed the “radical left” for their rhetoric inciting violence.
Vice President JD Vance, channeling his inner Scarlett O'Hara, promised that “with God as my witness” he would use the full power of the state to take down political “networks” deemed terrorists. In reality, he is largely just using the state to attack people who openly oppose Trump.
And in case you were thinking that maybe our president somehow really does care about the good of all Americans, remember that when talking about Kirk, Trump said he had a point of disagreement. Kirk, he claimed, forgave his enemies.
“That's where I disagreed with Charlie,” Trump said. “I hate my opponent and I don't want the best for him.”
There is such deep malevolence in Trump's post about Reiner that even Majorie Taylor Greene objected. She was once Trump's staunchest supporter before he called her a traitor, empowering his goon squad to terrorize her with death threats.
“This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,” Greene wrote on social media. “Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It is incredibly difficult and must be faced with empathy, especially when it ends in murder.”
But Trump has made cruelty the central point. His need to dehumanize everyone who opposes him, including Reiner and even Greene, is exactly what Reiner was warning us about.
Because when you allow people to be dehumanized, you stop caring about them, and Reiner wasn't about to let us stop caring.
He saw the world with the eyes of an artist and the heart of a warrior, a powerful combination that is reflected in his films. He challenged us to believe in true love, to let go of our cynicism, to be foolish and brave, knowing that both were crucial to a successful life.
This clarity from a man who commanded not only our attention and our respect, but also our hearts, is what drove Trump crazy and what made Reiner such a powerful threat to him. Republican or Democrat, his films reminded us of what we have in common.
But it might be Michael Douglas' speech in 1995's “The American President” that is most relevant right now. Douglas' character, President Andrew Shepard, says that “America is an advanced citizenry. You have to love it very much, because it's going to put up a fight.”
Shepard's rival, a man who seeks power over purpose, “is interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of 'it' and telling you who is to blame for 'it'.”
Sound familiar?
That our president felt the need to tear Reiner apart before his body was even buried would be a badge of honor for Reiner, an acknowledgment that Reiner's warnings had weight and that Reiner was a messenger to be reckoned with.
Reiner knew what advanced citizenship meant and desperately wanted democracy to survive.
If Trump's praise repulses you as much as it does me, then here's what you can do about it: vote in November in Reiner's memory.
His vote is the rebuke Trump fears most.
And your vote is the most powerful way to honor a man who dedicated his life to reminding us that bravery is having the audacity to care.
