One of the downsides of serving in President Donald Trump’s motion is that the ethical excessive floor is extraordinarily unsteady terrain.
Should you select to stake it out on a given situation, it’s fairly doable that Trump will later do one thing to fully undermine you.
But not often has that been the case prefer it was Monday, after the apparent homicide deaths of Rob Reiner and his spouse, producer Michele Singer Reiner.
Trump administration officers and the MAGA motion had spent months crying foul in regards to the largely random individuals who they mentioned celebrated and politicized Charlie Kirk’s September assassination, with some Republican elected officers even calling for these folks to lose their jobs. Trump and a few of his allies additionally used it as the idea of their dubious claims that the political left is extra violent than the political proper, and even to legitimize a authorities crackdown on leftist organizations.
But on Monday, the roles had been all of a sudden reversed. And it was greater than a random particular person dancing on the grave of a political foe; it was Trump himself.
Trump started a post on Truth Social by calling the deaths of Reiner and his spouse “a very sad thing” and wished that they “rest in peace.”
But the president spent many of the post deriding Reiner for his left-leaning, anti-Trump politics and even suggesting Reiner had introduced his demise upon himself.
It was a remarkably callous post, even by Trump’s requirements.
He mentioned Reiner’s demise was “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.”
(The Reiners’ son is being held on suspicion of homicide following their deaths, in accordance to Los Angeles police, however there have been no particulars about doable motives.)
“He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights” just lately, Trump added of Rob Reiner.
The president would possibly argue that calling their deaths “very sad” means he wasn’t celebrating them. But his level was exceedingly clear — and ugly.
It’s additionally very troublesome to sq. with how the GOP talked about social media posts within the wake of Kirk’s demise, emphasizing the significance of civility.
Many of their feedback on the time sought to name out an identical tone Trump has now taken about Reiner.
“So, when you see someone celebrating Charlie’s murder, call them out and, hell, call their employer,” Vice President JD Vance mentioned again in September. “We don’t believe in political violence, but we do believe in civility.”
Vance added at one other level: “If we want to stop political violence like what happened to Charlie Kirk, we have to be honest about the people who are celebrating it and the people who are financing it.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson mentioned that leftists “actually celebrating” Kirk’s homicide “tells you everything you need to know about that side.”
The Louisiana Republican agreed that it was honest recreation for employers to fireplace folks for “celebrating the heinous murder of an innocent person.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to strip visas of individuals for a similar offense, saying, “Why would we want to bring people into our country that are going to engage in negative and destructive behavior?”
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas instructed NCS’s Kaitlan Collins that the reactions to Kirk’s assassination proved the left had a worse political violence drawback than the appropriate. (In reality, the political proper has perpetrated much more violence in current a long time.)
“And understand, yes, there is some violence on both sides,” Cruz mentioned on the time. “But it is the left that overwhelmingly celebrates this.”
(Within minutes of Trump’s post Monday morning, Cruz posted a a lot more high-minded reaction to the deaths of the Reiners. Cruz months in the past additionally took a stand in opposition to the Trump administration concentrating on ABC host Jimmy Kimmel for a joke about Kirk’s assassination, saying it wasn’t an acceptable position for the federal government.)
And Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri at a listening to decried individuals who had been “all but saying Charlie’s assassination was justified because of what he thought, because of what he said.”
Now Trump is doing one thing very related — connecting Reiner’s demise to what he thought and mentioned that Trump didn’t like.
Indeed, even within the hours earlier than Trump’s Truth Social post, some influencers on the appropriate had been suggesting Reiner’s demise confirmed how their facet was completely different than the left.
“You won’t see people on the right celebrating the horrific murder of Rob Reiner and his wife,” Jack Posobiec posted on X late Sunday night time. “Compare to the Left’s reaction to Charlie Kirk’s murder.”
Podcaster Bret Weinstein added: “Notice that the American right is NOT celebrating Rob Reiner’s murder.” Megyn Kelly reposted it.
Given the ideas the appropriate staked out after Kirk’s killing, it’ll be fascinating to see if that normal is utilized to Trump – or if his allies strive to recommend his post is by some means completely different.
Republicans who’ve distanced themselves from Trump’s politics of late had been among the many early voices criticizing his feedback.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia posted Trump’s response and said, “This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies.”
“I’d expect to hear something like this from a drunk guy at a bar, not the President of the United States,” Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska told NCS’s Jake Tapper.
Rep. Mike Lawler of New York referred to as Trump’s assertion “wrong.”
“The Right uniformly condemned political and celebratory responses to Charlie Kirk’s death,” former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis posted. “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.”
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky referred to as Trump’s post “inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered.”
“I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid?” Massie added. “I challenge anyone to defend it.”
This is hardly the primary time Trump has undercut the GOP’s claims to political civility within the face of tragedy. Long earlier than the GOP tried to leverage leftists politicizing Kirk’s demise, Trump had repeatedly made mild of political violence in opposition to his foes (see: Paul Pelosi) and frequently used violent rhetoric.
But the president reupping this sort of language now no less than crystallizes the selection for the GOP.
And the selection is because it ever was: between Trump and the ethical excessive floor.