Of course, President Donald Trump doubled down on his tasteless social media put up about murdered Hollywood director Rob Reiner.
Trump by no means second-guesses himself, regardless of how heinous his actions or phrases.
He’s performed this recreation for years, wielding insults and the ensuing outrage as a software of energy that solidifies his outsider standing and seeds new feuds — which his supporters adore — in opposition to political and media elites.
So the query arising from his diatribes concerning the “When Harry Met Sally” director is not whether or not they’re grossly offensive. They are. Nor is the fallout probably to destroy Trump politically. Outlandish conduct has by no means introduced him down. And his compulsion to make the tragedy all about himself by declaring Reiner died due to anger he stirred over “Trump Derangement Syndrome” will shock nobody.
But Trump’s newest assault on decency got here at an unprecedented second in his political story. He’s suffered remarkable revolts from Republicans: in Indiana over his midterm redistricting drive; within the House of Representatives over the Epstein files. He’s out of contact with voters over excessive costs for groceries, health care and housing. Trump’s approval rankings have additionally crashed. And some Republicans are envisioning a future free of all the luggage their president brings.
Maybe his disdain for Reiner, a vocal Trump critic and Democratic fundraiser, was one other considered one of his frequent makes an attempt at deflection. Perhaps it was simply an outlet for his ever-boiling lust for vengeance, even in opposition to deceased adversaries. (He accused Reiner of being one of many instigators of the Russia controversy throughout his first time period.).
Trump’s first outburst on Truth Social was so offensive, it was essential to verify it was actual, and never the work of some AI imposter. But his refusal to repudiate his sentiments later within the Oval Office was a window into his present temper, his diminished political state and his deteriorating public conduct after recently calling a feminine reporter “piggy.”
History means that Trump will journey out the controversy over Reiner, who was discovered useless alongside together with his spouse Michele Singer Reiner at their Brentwood, California, dwelling on Sunday. Many MAGA supporters within the social media swamp Monday appeared to regard his feedback as truth-telling and a mark of authenticity.
But this uproar might underscore Trump’s misplaced reference to many of the nation. It reinforces a way that he stays obsessed together with his personal grievances relatively than centered on working for all Americans.
Anyone able of authority in enterprise or the media who’d publicly lambasted Reiner hours after his loss of life would in all probability have been fired. Trump has no such worries. But forward of midterm elections subsequent yr, Americans could start to balk at a head of state who injects such poison into the general public sq. ruling unchecked by his pliant get together in Congress for an extra two years after 2026.
These are grim occasions. Reiner’s horrific murder got here on the identical weekend as a campus shooting at Brown University and an antisemitic massacre in Australia. People are scared and demoralized. In such circumstances, presidents are counted upon to provide comfort, not political bile. Voters could search for an antidote in 2028.
Trump’s outbursts additionally undercut weeks of complaints by his supporters and conservative media about individuals who celebrated or politicized the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, as NCS’s Aaron Blake reported.
But there’s additionally a extra sinister risk teased out by his feedback about Reiner. Across Washington, Trump is being considered a lame duck whose energy is ebbing, like nearly each different term-limited second-term president. But his conduct could also be an omen that his eclipse will, because it was in 2020, be marked by abuses of energy and acrimony relatively than acceptance.
Trump’s energy base in Washington has eroded, but not crumbled, as proven by a closing of ranks within the GOP final week over controversial strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats off Venezuela.
Still, there are members of the GOP now prepared to condemn Trump.
“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” conservative Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie, a now-frequent Trump critic, wrote on X. “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.”
Another MAGA dissident, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, wrote on X that the tragedy of the Reiners was “not about politics or political enemies” and that the correct response ought to be empathy. The Los Angeles Police Department mentioned that the couple’s son Nick, who struggled with habit and psychological well being points, is “responsible” for his or her deaths.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posted a beneficiant tribute to Reiner on X. He instructed reporters later he was “grieving” for the Hollywood director’s household but that the president might “speak for himself.”
Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy is identified for his turns of phrase. But he suggested the president to converse much less. “A wise man once said nothing. Why? Because he’s a wise man. President Trump should have said nothing,” Kennedy instructed NCS’s Manu Raju.
Several House members additionally criticized Trump. New York Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis mentioned, “I don’t think it was a proper thing to say at this time. It was a tragedy, and I don’t think he should bring politics into it. It was unfortunate.”
But House Speaker Mike Johnson, who owed his swift rise from the backbenches to Trump, displayed a basic case of GOP fence-sitting. “I don’t do ongoing commentary about everything that’s said by everybody in government every day,” he mentioned.
A decade in the past, Trump brought on comparable revulsion together with his slander of Republican Sen. John McCain, a real American hero who spent years within the notorious “Hanoi Hilton” jail through the Vietnam War. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “I like people who weren’t captured.”
Trump’s success in driving out an argument that may have ended anybody else’s presidential marketing campaign grew to become a logo of how he’d modified the GOP and the legal guidelines of politics.
The Reiner episode exhibits Trump hasn’t modified. But it’s the newest knowledge level in a rising check case over the tolerance of his get together and the nation for his antics.