Overview
- On Truth Social, President Trump claimed Rob and Michele Reiner were killed because of a “mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
- Investigators arrested the couple’s son in the homicide case, and authorities have not indicated a political motive.
- Pressed after the arrest, Trump declined to retract his claim and said he believed Rob Reiner was “very bad for our country.”
- Backlash extended beyond liberal critics, with Republicans including Marjorie Taylor Greene and Jenna Ellis calling Trump’s reaction inappropriate.
- Economist Paul Krugman argued the episode exemplifies the normalization of vicious rhetoric, amplified by social media and the breaking of long-standing norms.