Did Rob Reiner say too bad the assassin missed President Trump
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Executive summary
No — there is no credible evidence that Rob Reiner said he was glad an assassin “missed” President Trump; independent fact-checking found the claim unfounded and contemporaneous reporting shows Reiner publicly condemned political violence and responded to earlier attacks with calls for compassion [1] [2] [3].
1. What the viral claim alleges and how it spread
A social-media graphic and related posts circulated in mid-December 2025 alleging Rob Reiner once said he “wished the gunman who attempted to kill” Donald Trump “hadn’t missed,” framing the quote as proof Reiner supported political violence; Snopes investigated that specific allegation and concluded the claim was unfounded after searching for any verifiable source for the quote [1].
2. What contemporary reporting says about Reiner’s stance on violence
Reporting from multiple outlets documents a different record: Reiner publicly condemned political violence and praised forgiveness after the September 2025 assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, telling interviewer Piers Morgan that he found Kirk’s widow’s remarks of forgiveness “beautiful” and stressing that violence is not a solution [3]; other summaries note Reiner’s long-standing anti‑violence statements and that he did not endorse assassination attempts [2].
3. Why the rumor is implausible given Reiner’s documented comments
The allegation conflicts with Reiner’s repeated public messaging that violence is unacceptable and with footage and interviews showing him urging compassion after politically motivated attacks, making the later social-media claim inconsistent with his recorded statements; Snopes’ inability to locate any primary-source quote supporting the viral claim is central to its finding that the rumor lacks evidence [3] [1].
4. How the claim was used in a charged political moment
The false claim gained traction amid a fraught news cycle in which President Trump publicly attacked Reiner following the director’s killing, prompting heated partisan exchanges and the recycling of old or fabricated material to score political points; mainstream outlets reported on Trump’s inflammatory posts and the backlash from politicians and commentators, which helped create an environment in which false attributions could spread more easily [4] [5] [6].
5. Who amplified the story and what agendas it served
The Snopes write-up notes specific examples of the claim appearing on Facebook and packaged into graphics [1], and other coverage shows both critics and supporters of Trump seized on the broader narrative around Reiner’s remarks and the president’s reaction — an interplay that benefited actors seeking to delegitimize opponents or deflect criticism of Trump’s comments after the Reiners’ deaths [7] [8].
6. Limitations of available reporting and what cannot be proven here
The assembled reporting and the Snopes investigation demonstrate a lack of verifiable sourcing for the precise wording of the viral quote and document Reiner’s public anti‑violence stance, but if an obscure, unarchived private remark existed it would not appear in the sources provided; based on the available evidence, however, the claim that Reiner said he wished an assassin had succeeded is unsupported [1] [2].
7. Bottom line — what the evidence supports
Fact-checkers and contemporary reporting converge: there is no credible record that Rob Reiner said he hoped an assassin had killed Donald Trump, and the claim circulating online is unsubstantiated; the broader context — Reiner’s public condemnations of political violence and the heated reaction to his death and President Trump’s comments — helps explain why such a false attribution would spread [1] [3] [4].