What are the specific public statements Rob Reiner made about Donald Trump between 2016 and 2025?

1. 2016–2017: Early, blunt rebukes after the campaign and inauguration

Reiner publicly attacked Trump during and after the 2016 campaign, telling Morning Joe before the election that “there were ‘a lot’” of Trump supporters he believed were racist and criticizing the media’s treatment of Trump; after Trump’s 2016 victory Reiner called Trump “a moron” and said it was “embarrassing” that a national platform normalized him following a 60 Minutes interview ^[3][1]. In the immediate post-inauguration period Reiner escalated to warnings about Trump’s fitness for office, including saying Trump was “mentally unfit” to be president in 2017, a description reported by outlets summarizing his public comments ^[5].

2. Language and repeated characterizations: “lying buffoon,” “con man,” and more

Across interviews and public remarks Reiner repeatedly deployed strong, personalized language, calling Trump a “complete and utter lying buffoon,” “a fraud,” and “a con man,” asserting that “everything that comes out of his mouth virtually is a lie,” language that appears in multiple compilations and direct quotes reported by contemporary outlets ^[4][3]. Reporting notes these were not isolated epithets but part of a sustained rhetorical pattern that framed Trump as dishonest and dangerous to democratic norms ^[2].

3. Organizational and political activity tied to public statements

Reiner did not confine his opposition to interviews; he helped institutionalize it by co-founding the Committee to Investigate Russia, an organization formed in the wake of 2016 to examine alleged ties between Trump associates and Russia, a move repeatedly cited when cataloguing his anti‑Trump activism ^[4]. Coverage frames that organizational role as part of his public portfolio of resistance to Trump-era politics rather than only rhetorical attack ^[2].

4. Continued critique through 2024–2025 and warnings about influence

News coverage through 2025 portrays Reiner as a “frequent critic” who warned about Trump’s broader influence and potential consequences of his return to power, including cautions that Trump’s media presence and reach could “turn the U.S.” in dangerous ways — a theme noted in reporting summarizing his later public remarks and interviews ^[2][5]. Outlets covering reactions to Reiner’s statements describe him consistently as a high-profile, persistent critic up until his death in 2025 ^[1][2].

5. How reporters and opponents summarized or amplified his remarks

Mainstream outlets and partisan sites both collected and repeated Reiner’s strongest lines: liberal-leaning and general-interest publications documented his warnings and blunt descriptions as part of a broader critique of Trumpism, while conservative and sympathetic outlets highlighted the offensiveness of some phrasing to argue he was emblematic of so-called “Trump derangement” narratives; those differing framings are evident across the sources that compiled his quotes and political activities ^[2][6]. Sources differ in tone but converge on the facts that Reiner was public, frequent, and explicit in his condemnation of Trump ^[3][4].

6. Limitations and takeaway

Available reporting documents numerous sharp public statements by Reiner between 2016 and 2025 — including epithets, assertions about supporters, organizational activism, and repeated warnings about Trump’s fitness and influence — but the supplied sources are compilations and summaries rather than a complete archival transcript, so this account relies on published reports that select representative quotes and actions ^[3][4][2]. The record as reported shows a consistent pattern: Reiner was a leading celebrity critic who used both media appearances and civic organizing to oppose Donald Trump from 2016 through 2025 ^[1][5].