Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) deplored the reaction of President Donald Trump on social media to the brutal murder of filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife Michele in their home in Los Angeles. Reiner was a ferocious critic of the President, who appears to have used the occasion of his antagonist’s death to launch a political attack on the deceased Reiner who he claims suffered from a “disease” Trump identifies ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.’
The post asserts the “once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
Massie, who has squared off with Trump over the Epstein files release and other issues, called Trump’s reaction “inappropriate and disrespectful” and challenged his Republican colleagues to condemn it — while predicting that “elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid.”
Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is 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? I challenge anyone to defend it. pic.twitter.com/j3dvzRxLQJ
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) December 15, 2025
Many commenters drew parallels between the reactions to the tragic murder of Charlie Kirk and the reactions to the tragic death of Reiner.
Commenting on Massie’s objections, one commenter wrote of Trump’s post: “This is equivalent to extreme leftists justifying Charlie Kirk’s assassination by saying he deserved it because of his ‘hateful views.’”
Others decried the President’s tendency toward self-absorption no matter what the circumstances of a situation warrant — “Is there anything he can’t make about himself?” one commenter asks, echoing many others.
In another response, the lawyer and author Sean Ross Callaghan posted thoughts that seemed to capture how Trump’s attacking retributive style — at times his chief political asset — is now often being perceived by some Republicans as too frequently aimed at the wrong targets.
“I didn’t feel anything about Rob Reiner,” Callaghan wrote, “I felt a lot about America First. Trump seems to have felt more about Rob Reiner than being my president.”
Massie’s criticism of the post has struck a chord with self-identified MAGA supporters also, with one calling out an “unforced error by Trump” and cautioning “We do not speak about the dead this way.”