What exactly did rob reiner say in his original x post about the assassination attempt on trump?

Checked on December 15, 2025
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Executive summary

President Trump posted on Truth Social that Rob Reiner “has passed away… reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction… TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” calling Reiner “tortured and struggling” and a “deranged person” while declining to offer normal condolence language [1] [2] [3]. The post drew swift bipartisan condemnation from lawmakers and media figures who called the remarks inappropriate and “depraved” given that Reiner and his wife were found dead and their son was arrested as a suspect [4] [5] [6].

1. What Trump actually wrote and said — the core language

In a Truth Social post and subsequent remarks to reporters, Trump described Reiner as “tortured and struggling” and claimed the couple’s deaths were “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,” shorthand often called “TDS” [1] [7]. In the Oval Office he reiterated that Reiner was “a deranged person,” referenced the “Russia hoax,” and said he was “not a fan of Rob Reiner at all” [8].

2. Immediate factual context the post omitted

Available sources note that Los Angeles police were investigating the deaths as apparent homicides and that the Reiners’ 32‑year‑old son Nick was arrested on a murder charge; authorities had released little about motive at the time of Trump’s comments [5] [9]. Trump’s social-media framing linked the deaths to Reiner’s political criticism of him despite no public evidence tying the crime to political animus in initial reporting [5] [10].

3. How news organizations summarized and reacted

Mainstream outlets recorded the text of Trump’s post and emphasized the political framing and backlash. The Washington Post and AP reported that prominent figures on both the right and left pushed back, noting the timing and absence of investigative conclusions [5] [3]. The Guardian, Axios and others highlighted bipartisan outrage and described the post as mocking a man just found murdered [4] [11] [1].

4. Bipartisan blowback and why it mattered

Republicans as well as Democrats condemned the president’s post. Lawmakers including Thomas Massie said the comments were “inappropriate and disrespectful” toward a man said to be “brutally murdered,” while other GOP voices publicly rebuked Trump’s choice to politicize the deaths [2] [6]. Outlets characterized the reaction as notable because some MAGA influencers had earlier urged restraint after the Charlie Kirk assassination; Trump’s post undercut those appeals [11].

5. How different outlets framed motive and certainty

News coverage uniformly framed Trump’s claim as unsubstantiated. WABE and AP described the president as blaming Reiner’s outspoken opposition without evidence and called the assertion “unsubstantiated” or “shocking” given the ongoing investigation [10] [3]. Some conservative commentators defended Trump’s broader critique of Reiner’s history of political attacks; others said the timing made the remarks unacceptable [11].

6. What reporting does not say — limits and open questions

Available sources do not present evidence that investigators linked Reiner’s political speech to the killings; initial reporting noted police were investigating and had arrested the couple’s son as a suspect [5] [9]. Sources do not report Trump’s post containing any condolence language beyond the opening “A very sad thing,” and they do not provide forensic or prosecutorial conclusions tying motive to public political disputes at the time of publication [12] [9].

7. Why the wording matters — political and rhetorical stakes

Trump’s verbal framing—calling the late director “deranged” and suggesting a novel clinical-sounding cause of death tied to political disagreement—transformed a factual news moment into a partisan moral judgment, drawing sustained media and political criticism for appearing to celebrate or rationalize a violent death [1] [4]. Outlets noted the move risked eroding norms around public responses to deaths and could undercut prior MAGA messaging about restraint after political killings [11] [2].

Limitations: this account relies only on the provided reporting; court or police findings that emerged after these stories are not included because available sources here do not contain them (not found in current reporting).

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