By MICHELLE L. PRICE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday blamed Rob Reiner’s outspoken opposition to the president for the actor-director’s killing, delivering the unsubstantiated declare in a surprising publish that appeared intent on decrying his opponents even within the face of a tragedy.
The assertion, even for Trump, was a surprising remark that got here as police have been nonetheless investigating the deaths of the beloved director and his spouse as an obvious murder. The couple have been discovered useless at their dwelling Sunday in Los Angeles. Investigators imagine they suffered stab wounds and the couple’s son Nick Reiner, was in police custody early Monday.
Trump has a protracted observe report of inflammatory remarks, however his feedback in a social media publish have been a drastic departure from the function presidents usually play in providing a message of comfort or tribute to the dying of a public determine. His message drew criticism even from conservatives and his supporters and laid naked Trump’s unwillingness to rise above political grievance in moments of disaster.
Trump, in a publish on his social media community, mentioned that Reiner and his spouse have been killed “reportedly because of the anger he precipitated others by way of his huge, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a thoughts crippling illness often called TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
He mentioned Reiner “was recognized to have pushed individuals CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, along with his apparent paranoia reaching new heights because the Trump Administration surpassed all targets and expectations of greatness.”
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, who has bucked a lot of his get together’s lockstep settlement with the president, criticized Trump for the remark.
“No matter the way you felt about Rob Reiner, that is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse a couple of man who was simply brutally murdered,” Massie wrote in a publish on X. “I assume my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White Home employees will simply ignore it as a result of they’re afraid? I problem anybody to defend it.”
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican whom Trump branded a “traitor” for arguing with him, responded to Trump’s message by saying, “It is a household tragedy, not about politics or political enemies.”
Reiner was probably the most lively Democrats within the movie business, recurrently campaigning on behalf of liberal causes and internet hosting fundraisers. He was a vocal critic of Trump, calling him in a 2017 interview with Selection “mentally unfit” to be president and “the single-most unqualified human being to ever assume the presidency of america.”
The White Home, which amplified the president’s publish, didn’t reply to a message in regards to the criticism it was receiving and requires Trump to take it down.
The unsympathetic message was the most recent instance of Trump’s unsparing prism by way of which he views these he perceives as enemies.
He made retribution in opposition to political enemies a major focus of his marketing campaign for the White Home final yr. And he has up to now made gentle of violence when it’s befallen these on the opposite aspect of the political aisle.
When Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked by an intruder on the lookout for the previous Home speaker on the household’s San Francisco dwelling in 2022 and crushed over the pinnacle with a hammer, Trump later mocked the assault.
That’s in regardless of of his feedback after the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk earlier this yr. Trump mentioned Kirk’s killing was “the tragic consequence of demonizing these with whom you disagree.”
His administration then sought penalties for individuals who have been vital of Kirk and even celebrated his killing.
Jenna Ellis, who was certainly one of Trump’s attorneys and labored on his efforts in 2020 to overturn the outcomes of the presidential election, identified Trump’s double customary and known as his publish “NOT the suitable response.”
“The Proper uniformly condemned political and celebratory responses to Charlie Kirk’s dying. It is a horrible instance from Trump (and stunning contemplating the 2 makes an attempt on his personal life) and must be condemned by everybody with any decency,” Ellis mentioned in a publish on X.
When Trump spoke at Kirk’s memorial service, he used his remarks to underline how he views his adversaries.
“I hate my opponent,” the president mentioned.
