Of course, President Donald Trump has retracted his tasteless social media post about slain Hollywood director Rob Reiner.
Trump never wavers, no matter how heinous his actions or words.
He has played this game for years, wielding insults and outrage as a tool of power that cements his status as an outsider and generates new feuds—which his supporters love—against political elites and the media.
So the question that arises from his diatribes about the “When Harry Met Sally” director is not whether they are grossly offensive. I am Nor will the fallout destroy Trump politically. The odd behavior never got him down. And his compulsion to make the tragedy all about himself by declaring that Reiner died because of the rage he caused due to “Trump derangement syndrome” will surprise no one.
But Trump’s latest assault on decency comes at an unprecedented time in his political history. He suffered unprecedented Republican revolts: in Indiana, over redistricting efforts; in the House of Representatives on the Epstein files. He is out of touch with voters because of the high prices of food, health care and housing. Trump’s approval ratings also plummeted. And some Republicans envision a future free of all the baggage their president brings.
Perhaps his disdain for Reiner, a vocal Trump critic and Democratic fundraiser, was another of his frequent attempts at defection. Perhaps it was just an outlet for his ever-burning lust for revenge, even against deceased opponents. (He accused Reiner of being one of the instigators of the Russia controversy during his first term.)
Trump’s first outburst on Truth Social was so offensive that it had to be verified that it was real and not the work of an AI impostor. But his refusal to repudiate his feelings later in the Oval Office provided a window into his current state of mind, his diminished political health and deteriorating public demeanor after he recently called a female reporter a “pig.”
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner attend the Human Rights Campaign’s 2025 LA Dinner at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles on March 22, 2025. – Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images
Trump’s growing political problems
History suggests that Trump will escape the controversy surrounding Reiner, who was found dead with his wife Michele Singer Reiner at their home in Brentwood, Calif., on Sunday. Many MAGA supporters in the social media swamp on Monday seemed to take his comments as truth and a mark of authenticity.
But the uproar could underscore Trump’s lost touch with much of the country. It reinforces the sense that he remains obsessed with his own grievances rather than focused on working for all Americans.
Anyone in a position of authority in business or the media who would have publicly bashed Reiner within hours of his death would likely have been fired. Trump has no such worries. But ahead of next year’s midterm elections, Americans may begin to balk at a head of state injecting such poison into public market judgment, unchecked by his pliable party in Congress for two more years after 2026.
These are dark times. Reiner’s gruesome murder took place on the same weekend as a campus shooting at Brown University and an anti-Semitic massacre in Australia. People are scared and demoralized. In such circumstances, presidents are counted on to offer consolation, not political bludgeoning. Voters may be looking for an antidote in 2028.
Trump’s outbursts also undermined weeks of complaints from his supporters and conservative media about people celebrating or politicizing the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, CNN’s Aaron Blake reported.
But there’s also a more sinister possibility brought up by his comments about Reiner. In Washington, Trump is viewed as a lame duck whose power is waning, like almost every other term-limited president. But his behavior may be a sign that his eclipse will be marked, as it was in 2020, by abuses of power and acrimony rather than acceptance.
Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton with Rob Reiner at a fundraiser at the Wilshire Theater in Beverly Hills, California on April 3, 2008. – Mark Avery/Reuters
“I challenge anyone to defend him”
Trump’s power base in Washington has eroded but not collapsed, as a closing of ranks in the GOP showed last week over controversial strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats off Venezuela.
Still, there are members of the GOP now willing to condemn Trump.
“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful speech about a man who was just brutally murdered,” conservative Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, a frequent Trump critic, wrote on X. “I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the vice president and the White House staff are going to ignore him just because I’m afraid of someone to defend?”
Another MAGA dissenter, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, wrote on X that the Reiner family tragedy “wasn’t about politics or political enemies” and that the proper response should be empathy. The Los Angeles Police Department said the couple’s son Nick, who struggled with addiction and mental health issues, was “responsible” for their deaths.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posted a heartfelt tribute to Reiner on X. He later told reporters that he “felt sorry” for the Hollywood director’s family, but that the president could “speak for himself.”
Louisiana Senator John Kennedy is known for his catchphrases. But he advised the president to speak less. “A wise man never said anything. Why? Because he’s a wise man. President Trump should have said nothing,” Kennedy told CNN’s Manu Raju.
Several members of the House also criticized Trump. New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis said: “I don’t think it was an appropriate thing to say at this time. It was a tragedy and I don’t think they should bring politics into it. It was unfortunate.”
But House Speaker Mike Johnson, who owed his rapid rise from the backbenches to Trump, displayed a classic case of GOP fence-sitting. “I don’t make continuous comments about everything that is being said by everyone in government every day,” he said.
A decade ago, Trump provoked a similar revulsion with his smears against Republican Senator John McCain, a true American hero who spent years in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison during the Vietnam War. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “I like people who haven’t been captured.”
Trump’s success in eliminating a controversy that could have ended someone else’s presidential campaign has become a symbol of how he has changed the GOP and the laws of politics.
The Reiner episode shows that Trump hasn’t changed. But it is the latest data point in a growing test case about his party’s and the country’s tolerance for his antics.
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