Rob Reiner, a prominent figure in Hollywood, has become the latest target of President Trump’s criticism, even posthumously.
On Monday, President Donald Trump took to social media to make unsubstantiated claims regarding the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner. Trump suggested their deaths were somehow linked to their political opposition to his administration.
In his post, Trump insinuated that Reiner’s outspoken criticism of him might have contributed to his tragic demise. “The anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” he wrote.
Rob Reiner was known for his vocal disapproval of Trump’s presidency. In a 2017 interview, he labeled Trump as “mentally unfit” for office, a sentiment he maintained throughout Trump’s time in the White House. In October, during an interview with MS NOW, Reiner warned, “Our Democracy is being taken away from us and we only have about a year.”
The beloved director and his wife were discovered dead in their Southern California residence on Sunday night. Authorities have described the incident as an “apparent homicide,” and the investigation is ongoing.
The famed director-actor and his wife Michele Singer Reiner were found dead in their Southern California home Sunday night, in what police described as an “apparent homicide.”
On Monday, police arrested Nick Reiner, the younger of Rob Reiner’s two sons, for the murder of his parents.
In his post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that Reiner was obsessed with him.
The president’s full statement can be read below:
“A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to 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. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”
Later, Trump doubled down on his statements when speaking to reporters at the White House Monday afternoon. After being asked if he stood by his early posts, using the third person, Trump said Reiner “was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned.”
“I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all, in any way shape or form,” Trump said. “I thought he was very bad for our country.”
Police and law enforcement sources have given no indication that the deaths of Rob and Michele Singer Reiner were politically motivated in any way.
It is not the first time Trump has publicly attacked a perceived enemy, even after they have died.
His feud with the late Sen. John McCain is well documented, with Trump continuing to blast McCain after his death in 2018.
The president said McCain “didn’t get the job done for our great vets and the VA.”
“Not my kind of guy,” Trump said at the time. “But some people like him and I think that’s great.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
