Trump baselessly says Rob Reiner died because he was anti-Trump, politicizing the director’s killing

President Donald Trump baselessly suggested Monday morning that legendary director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife died because of Reiner’s anti-Trump views, politicizing their deaths as other conservatives expressed condolences.

Reiner, Trump wrote on Truth Social, was killed “due the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known and sometimes referred to as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”

Trump’s comments are not supported by currently available public information from authorities.

Trump prefaced his allegations by saying the killings were “a very sad thing.”

Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Los Angeles home Sunday afternoon apparently from stab wounds, according to a person close to the family. Nick Reiner, the couple’s son, has been arrested in connection with their deaths, according to two law enforcement sources with direct knowledge of the investigation. Nick Reiner has spoken publicly about his struggles with addiction and homelessness.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on what information the president might have about a motive for the killings.

Rob Reiner was a Trump critic and a major donor to Democratic candidates and causes, including giving more than $150,000 to the Democratic presidential candidates’ “victory fund” during the 2024 election cycle. He was also a prominent figure who voiced his view, in the wake of conservative Charlie Kirk’s assassination in September, that violence is not an answer to political disagreement.

“I don’t care what your political beliefs are: That’s not acceptable,” Reiner told interviewer Piers Morgan, expressing his “absolute horror” at Kirk’s shooting. Andrew Kolvet, the spokesman for Kirk’s group, Turning Point USA, posted the Morgan-Reiner interview on Sunday night, before Trump’s social media post. Kolvet praised Reiner for responding “with grace and compassion to Charlie’s assassination.”

Morgan called on Trump to delete his post about Reiner, posting on X, “This is a dreadful thing to say” and made reference to his son’s arrest.

Trump also faced immediate backlash online, including from conservative activists like Robby Starbuck, a filmmaker and leading advocate against corporate and government diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

“What happened last night to Rob Reiner and his wife was a savage butchering of 2 human lives,” Starbuck wrote in response to Trump. “I don’t care what their politics were or how they felt about Trump, no law abiding human deserves this. We should pray for + send condolences to his loved ones and NOT make it political.”

Raheem Kassam, editor of the conservative publication The National Pulse, posted on X over an image of Trump’s statement.

“Don’t love this, to be honest,” Kassam wrote.

And Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who have been recent targets of Trump’s ire, pushed back on him in posts to X.

“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” Massie wrote. “I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”

Jenna Ellis, a former Trump campaign lawyer, told NBC News that she is “grateful to see other Trump supporters and prominent conservative voices likewise encourage the president to reconsider and delete this comment.”

In her own X post, she called Trump’s message “NOT the appropriate response” to the killings.

“The Right uniformly condemned political and celebratory responses to Charlie Kirk’s death,” Ellis wrote. “This is a horrible example from Trump (and surprising considering the two attempts on his own life) and should be condemned by everyone with any decency.”

Trump’s take stood in stark contrast to the reactions of many MAGA figures, including those who were vocal following Kirk’s death. Some at the time accused the political left of insensitivity because certain progressives pointed to Kirk’s beliefs to explain anger toward him. On Sunday night and early Monday morning, they largely expressed sympathy for Reiner.

“RIP, Rob Reiner,” Alex Bruesewitz, a top Trump ally and social media influencer, posted on X along with an emoji of praying hands.

Later Monday, he said he takes no issue with Trump’s post and does not believe it dilutes the softer tone other MAGA figures struck.

“I don’t think it undermines us,” Bruesewitz said. “It’s ok for people to have different reactions. Rob Reiner was really nasty towards the President. He said many hateful things like he was a symbol of hate, he called him mentally ill, and suggested he should be arrested for treason, a crime punishable by death. I don’t blame the president for having the reaction that he had.”

Still, many luminaries of the conservative movement not only sounded a different note than Trump but portrayed their position as the consensus on the political right.

“Notice that the American right is NOT celebrating Rob Reiner’s murder,” @BretWeinsten wrote to his 1.1 million X followers early Monday morning, before Trump’s post. “I see post after post honoring his remarkable contribution to our culture despite his strident embrace of progressive lunacy in his later years. This is America displaying our common humanity. May his memory, and his remarkable body of work, be a blessing to us all.”