Opinion: Trump’s Post on Rob Reiner’s Death Was a Massive Misstep, While the Vast Majority of MAGA Posts Got It Exactly Right

I’ve often written for this site that the monstrous, prickly caricature of President Donald Trump usually portrayed by the media is a wild-eyed ruse.

His touching and humane response to finding out about the news of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing in 2020 has always been a moment that I’ve referenced as showing just how magnanimous Trump can be when his ideological foes perish.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one Trump most vocal enemies. She detested him and was outward about it.

This is how he reacted to her passing. pic.twitter.com/cWDGYwzkH8

— Brad Zerbo (@BradCGZ) September 11, 2025

Why, oh, why, couldn’t that Donald Trump have been present when famed Hollywood director Rob Reiner and his wife were allegedly murdered by their son in their California home on Sunday?

Instead, we got this version of Trump:

Donald J. Trump Post 09:51 AM EST 12/15/25 pic.twitter.com/dlVxHGFhkx

— Commentary Donald J. Trump Posts From (@TrumpDailyPosts) December 15, 2025

“A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood,” the president posted to on Monday morning. “Rob 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. He 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!”

I mean this with zero exaggeration: That message should’ve literally been just the first line and last line, period.

Everything else is a disservice to anyone who’s ever defended Trump’s character from the relentless smears of the left and establishment media.

You simply do not speak ill of the dead, barring someone truly heinous (like, if you wanted to crack a Hitler joke hours after he offed himself, have at it).

As much as you may not have enjoyed Reiner’s liberal activism or strong anti-Trump rhetoric, he simply doesn’t rise to the level of heinousness that can warrant mocking the dead.

But even if you feel that Reiner did deserve Trump’s response (which, to be clear, I do not… at all), there’s no denying that Trump made two crucial tactical errors with his ill-worded eulogy.

First, there’s just no way to sugarcoat it: Trump may have single-handedly tanked the 2026 midterms by alienating swathes of on-the-fence voters. Trump’s tough-guy rhetoric and penchant for trash talk absolutely endears him to his base, but for Republicans to have any shot of keeping their majorities in Congress, they need those undecided voters.

And love it or hate it, most undecided voters strongly prefer the Trump we saw post-RBG over the Trump we saw Monday. Those are simply the facts.

If you don’t think Democrats are going to weaponize this in 2026 and beyond, you don’t understand how elections work.

Secondly, Trump also just gave the establishment media exactly what it wants: anti-Trump content for days. They are going to trot out celebrity after pundit after analyst all (correctly, by the way) wringing their hands over Trump’s unforced error.

That means significantly less coverage of the horrific Bondi Beach shooting or the Brown University shooting, which are issues that require laser focus. Both are hugely important tragedies that demand the full attention of the world — but instead it’s just going to be more “Orange Man Bad” content on loop.

Now, you don’t have to be perfect to be good, and I still think the Trump that responded so eloquently to the passing of Ginsburg is far closer to the real Donald than the one making Reiner’s death about himself.

And I believe that because most of MAGA — the movement Trump embodies and represents — had a decidedly different reaction to the tragic news of Reiner’s passing, and this feels much more emblematic of what MAGA actually stands for.

Here’s noted anti-woke comedian Adam Carolla immediately hoping for the best when ominous reports first began circulating late Sunday (initial reports of Reiner’s passing had noted that two people were found dead at his residence):

I love Rob Reiner and hope he’s ok

— Adam Carolla (@adamcarolla) December 15, 2025

Nothing ironic, no jokes, no snark from the normally ironic, jokey, snarky Carolla here. Just well wishes in a scary situation.

Here’s a pro-MAGA Hollywood legend, James Woods, sharing a heartfelt anecdote about Reiner:

Rob and I remained good friends ever since we made GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI. The studio didn’t think I was old enough to do the part, but Rob fought for me. Political differences never stood in the way of our love and respect for each other. I am devastated by this terrible event. https://t.co/eL1lurqyzV

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) December 15, 2025

“The studio didn’t think I was old enough to do the part, but Rob fought for me,” Woods recounted about the time the two joined up on “Ghosts of Mississippi.”

Woods astutely added, “Political differences never stood in the way of our love and respect for each other. I am devastated by this terrible event.”

And here’s another rare pro-MAGA voice in Hollywood, the unabashedly outspoken Rob Schneider:

Human beings, Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle have been tragically killed today.
I am deeply saddened. Every life is sacred and given by God, our creator.
One of the most accomplished American directors who ever lived, his movies have been adored by generations, but I will…

— Rob Schneider 🇺🇸 (@RobSchneider) December 15, 2025

“Human beings, Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle have been tragically killed today,” Schneider posted. “I am deeply saddened. Every life is sacred and given by God, our creator.

“One of the most accomplished American directors who ever lived, his movies have been adored by generations, but I will remember him most for making me laugh my guts out with my Dad watching the greatest American tv show of all time, ‘All In The Family.’

“I will be praying for his friends and family that they may find solace and peace.”

And to punctuate this, I do think Trump is more good than not. This Reiner commentary was a very bad misstep, but I’d rather have a good man with rough — even extremely rough — moments, compared to Democratic charlatans like Barack Obama or Joe Biden who say all the nice, kind and fuzzy things in public, but then betray the American people in private.

It’s not even close, to be honest.

(Now, if a similar incident arises again, I may have to re-do this piece. Please, Don, don’t make me do that.)

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