Of course, President Donald Trump doubled down on his tasteless social media posts about murdered Hollywood director Rob Reiner.
Trump never second-guesses himself, no matter how outrageous his actions or remarks may be.
He has been playing this game for years, using insults and the ensuing anger as a tool of power, solidifying his outsider status and stoking new discord against political and media elites — something his supporters relish.
So the question raised by his diatribes against the director of When Harry Met Sally is not whether they were seriously offensive. They are. The consequences are also unlikely to destroy Trump politically. Weird behavior never got him down. It won’t surprise anyone that he announced Lehner’s death as a result of rage-fueled “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” placing the blame for the tragedy entirely on himself.
But Trump’s latest assault on decency comes at an unprecedented moment in his political story. He endured an unprecedented level of pushback from Republicans: a midterm redistricting effort in Indiana; He is out of touch with voters on the high prices of groceries, health care and housing. Trump’s approval ratings have also plummeted. Some Republicans are envisioning a future free of all the baggage that comes with the president.
Perhaps his disdain for Renner, an outspoken Trump critic and Democratic fundraiser, is another of his frequent attempts to deflect attention. Maybe it’s just an outlet for his ever-simmering desire for revenge, even against deceased opponents. (He accused Lehner of being one of the instigators of the Russia controversy during his first term.)
Trump’s first outburst on “Truth Society” was so offensive it warranted checking that it was real and not the work of some artificial intelligence imposter. But he later refused to disavow his views in the Oval Office, a window into his current mood, declining political status and deteriorating public behavior after recently calling a female reporter a “piggy.”
Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner attend the Human Rights Campaign 2025 Los Angeles Dinner at Fairmont Century Plaza on March 22, 2025 in Los Angeles. – Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images
Trump’s growing political woes
History suggests Trump will weather the controversy surrounding Lehner, who was found dead in his Brentwood, Calif., home on Sunday with his wife, Michelle Singer Lehner. On Monday, many MAGA supporters on social media seemed to believe his comments were telling the truth and a sign of authenticity.
But the uproar may highlight Trump’s loss of touch with much of America. This reinforces the sense that he remains obsessed with his own grievances rather than focused on working for all Americans.
Anyone who publicly railed against business or media establishment in the hours after Lehner’s death was likely to be fired. Trump has no such concerns. But ahead of next year’s midterm elections, Americans may begin to feel hesitant about a head of state who, two years after 2026, injects this kind of poison into a public sphere not controlled by compliant parties in Congress.
These are serious times. Renner’s horrific murder occurred on the same weekend as the Brown University campus shooting and the anti-Semitic massacre in Australia. People are scared and demoralized. In such cases, presidents should offer comfort, not political vendetta. Voters may be looking for a cure in 2028.
Trump’s outburst also undercut weeks of complaints from his supporters and conservative media outlets about those who celebrated or politicized the assassination of Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk, CNN’s Aaron Blake reported.
But his comments about Lehner also revealed a more sinister possibility. In Washington, Trump is viewed as a lame duck whose power is waning, like that of nearly every other term-limited second-term president. But his behavior could be a sign that his decline will be marked, as it was in 2020, by abuse of power and acrimony rather than acceptance.
Presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton and Rob Reiner at a fundraiser at the Wilshire Theater on April 3, 2008 in Beverly Hills, California. -Mark Avery/Reuters
‘I challenge anyone to defend it’
Trump’s power base in Washington has eroded but not collapsed, as last week’s Republican unity over a controversial attack on a suspected drug-trafficking ship near Venezuela showed.
Still, there are still members of the Republican Party willing to denounce Trump.
“No matter how you feel about Rob Reiner, this is an inappropriate and disrespectful statement for a man who was just brutally murdered,” Thomas Massie, a conservative Kentucky Republican who is now a frequent critic of Trump, wrote on the X. “I think my elected Republican colleagues, the vice president and the White House staff are going to ignore it out of fear? I challenge anyone to defend it.”
Another MAGA dissident, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, wrote on The Los Angeles Police Department said the couple’s son Nick, who suffered from drug addiction and mental health issues, was “responsible” for their deaths.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz paid a generous tribute to Lehner on the X. He later told reporters that he was “sad” for the Hollywood director’s family but that the president could “speak for himself.”
Louisiana Senator John F. Kennedy was famous for his turns of phrase. But he advised the president to talk less. “A wise man once said nothing. Why? Because he was a wise man. President Trump should have said nothing,” Kennedy told CNN’s Manu Raju.
Several House members also criticized Trump. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., said, “I don’t think it’s appropriate to say this at this time. It’s a tragedy and I don’t think he should have brought politics into it. It’s unfortunate.”
But House Speaker Mike Johnson, who owes his meteoric rise from the backbench to Trump, is a classic example of Republican fence-sitting. “I’m not going to make an ongoing comment on everything that everyone in the administration says every day,” he said.
Trump’s slurs against Republican Sen. John McCain a decade ago elicited similar revulsion. McCain was a true American hero who spent several years in the notorious “Hanoi Hilton” prison during the Vietnam War. “He’s not a war hero,” Trump said. “I like people who are not captured.”
Trump’s success in riding out a controversy that might have ended anyone else’s presidential campaign became emblematic of how he changed the rules of the Republican Party and politics.
The Lehner incident shows that Trump has not changed. But it’s the latest data point in a growing test of his party’s and the country’s tolerance for his antics.
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