<\/p>\n
Months before his slaying, Rob Reiner talked about the power of forgiveness after the \u201chorrific\u201d assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk.<\/p>\n
\u201cHorror. An absolute horror,\u201d the director, actor and political activist said when asked about the shooting in a TV interview<\/a> with Piers Morgan. \u201cI unfortunately saw the video of it and it\u2019s beyond belief what happened to him and that should never happen to anybody. I don\u2019t care what your political beliefs are. That\u2019s not acceptable.\u201d <\/p>\n Contrast that with President Trump\u2019s reaction to the killing of Reiner<\/a> and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner<\/a>, who on Sunday were found stabbed to death in their Brentwood home. Their son, Nick Reiner, has been arrested<\/a> in connection with the slayings.<\/p>\n \u201cRob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, 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, sometimes referred to as TDS,\u201d Trump said<\/a> in a social media post.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!\u201d<\/p>\n How is that anyone\u2019s<\/i> initial reaction to a tragic slaying, let alone an official comment from a sitting U.S. president? That\u2019s a rhetorical question, of course. It\u2019s just another Monday at Trump\u2019s White House.<\/p>\n I\u2019d be screaming into the void if I were to use the rest of this column to argue that the president is not only off his rocker but also has tumbled down the stairs and is in the foyer, mumbling something about speedboats, piggies and ballrooms. In his race to the bottom, he\u2019s broken through the floor. Now we\u2019re in the Trump Upside Down, where empathy and decency are negative attributes.<\/p>\n Even Republican lawmakers were compelled to speak out against their feared leader. \u201cThis is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,\u201d said Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a> in response to Trump\u2019s post. <\/p>\n Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) wrote on X, \u201cRegardless of one\u2019s political views, no one should be subjected to violence, let alone at the hands of their own son. It\u2019s a horrible tragedy that should engender sympathy and compassion from everyone in our country, period.\u201d<\/p>\n Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said it short and sweet to celebrity.land\u2019s Jake Tapper: \u201cI\u2019d expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the President of the United States. Can the President be presidential?\u201d<\/p>\n No, he cannot. When given the chance on Monday to appear leader-like during a White House news conference, Trump doubled down on his dislike for Reiner, saying he \u201cwasn\u2019t a fan\u201d and that the director \u201cwas a deranged person.\u201d<\/p>\n Translation: Reiner was a Trump critic and the president has skin so thin it\u2019s practically rice paper at the point. But the filmmaker\u2019s social conscience was evident in everything he did, starting with his role as \u201cAll in the Family\u2019s\u201d liberal, hippie son-in law to conservative crank Archie Bunker.<\/a> It was the 1970s, and Meathead (aka Michael) consistently called out Archie\u2019s racism, bigotry and sexism on the weekly sitcom. Archie\u2019s rants are now the ugly stuff embraced by feckless politicians and attention-seeking influencers, but back then, his tirades against \u201cqueers\u201d and \u201ccoloreds\u201d represented old prejudices that needed to be shed if the country were to move forward. Show creator Norman Lear made the ugliness funny by using Meathead to expose Archie\u2019s ignorance. Even back then, Reiner was poking the bear. <\/p>\n