Listen To This Story

After feeding at the bottom of a cesspool of his own creation, it is remarkable that Donald Trump still finds ways to stoop even lower. And yet, the president routinely manages to say or do things that are so depraved, despicable and disturbing that they defy belief.

On Monday, for example, he reacted to the murder of Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife with a social media post that should make anybody question Trump’s sanity and morality.

A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. 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!

To those who follow the president closely, this is classic Trump.

Instead of sounding a gracious note about someone who disagreed with him — the director, writer, producer, actor, and left-wing activist was an outspoken critic of Trump — the president can’t help but somehow make this tragedy about himself.

While the president starts out like a sane human being, he quickly resorts to his own grievances and conspiracy theories.

Contrary to Trump’s assertion that there was a political motivation for the murder, it seems as though it was a personal matter. The couple’s son Nick was arrested hours after the crime scene was discovered on Sunday.

The president, of course, is a frequent source of misinformation. For example, in the immediate aftermath of a shooting at Brown University on Sunday, he claimed that the gunman had been apprehended when, in fact, he was still at large.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1999983616160678053

In any case, it almost seems as though the president was bragging that Reiner’s political views had led to the murder.

Then, to make sure that he hit all of his notes, Trump touts his own imaginary accomplishments.

This is the kind of post that, in private, makes congressional Republicans cringe… not only because it is deplorable but also because they know that they will be asked about it.

And when they are, how many of them will actually find the courage to strongly condemn it instead of pretending that they haven’t seen it or offering some tepid excuse about the president — the president — having “strong views” or being known for “saying a lot of things on social media”?

Let’s also keep in mind that these are the same Republicans who wanted regular people to lose their jobs for pointing out that Charlie Kirk said some controversial things after the right-wing activist was assassinated earlier this year.

So what will they say now?

Even though Trump’s grip on the GOP is weakening, we are not hopeful that many of them will point out the obvious: This is truly unhinged stuff.

There are going to be exceptions, of course.

Some Republicans who are already on Trump’s naughty list have criticized the president for his disgraceful post.

“Rob Reiner and his wife were tragically killed at the hands of their own son, who reportedly had drug addiction and other issues, and their remaining children are left in serious mourning and heartbreak,” wrote Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), whom Trump branded a “traitor” for wanting the Epstein files released.

“This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,” added the lawmaker, whose son received death threats after the president targeted her. “Many families deal with a family member with drug addiction and mental health issues. It’s incredibly difficult and should be met with empathy especially when it ends in murder.”

And Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a thorn in Trump’s side for his views on deficit spending and for being the driving force behind a discharge petition that compels the Department of Justice to release the Epstein files later this week, offered perhaps the strongest condemnation.

“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” Massie stated. “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.”

What the lawmaker got wrong here is that the White House didn’t ignore Trump’s rant; it amplified it.

We also expect Republicans who are retiring, like Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) or Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) to have some things to say about this, but that really only highlights the cowardice of everybody else who doesn’t call out the president.

Apart from them, we would be (pleasantly) surprised if any GOP leaders and rank-and-file lawmakers found it within themselves to point out that Trump’s words are unbecoming of any decent human being, no less the president of the United States.