Shocking Even For Him
In the wake of President Trump’s “inappropriate and disrespectful” remarks — making what appears to be a tragic double murder of director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele about himself and his political foes — Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) challenged his Republican colleagues and the White House to “defend” the president’s completely vile Truth Social post.
“Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered,” Massie posted on Twitter. “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.” The member of Congress posted his message alongside a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post, in which the president blamed Reiner’s apparent killing on Reiner supposedly having “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS.”
Massie is one of the only elected Republicans who has been consistently willing to criticize the president. But Trump’s Truth Social post about Reiner was so deranged that others are speaking up.
Early reports indicate that Rob and Michele Reiner were found dead with stab wounds in their home in Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon. Police have taken their son, 32-year-old Nick Reiner, into custody. He is being held without bail on suspicion of murder, the Los Angeles Police Department said on Monday. The deaths have shaken Americans across the political spectrum, including in the LGBTQ communities. Reiner was a longtime activist for Democratic candidates and causes. He was a co-founder of American Foundation for Equal Rights, which helped fund the legal battle against Proposition 8 in California in 2008.
In response to the news of the suspected murders of both Rob and Michele Reiner, Trump posted on Truth Social suggesting that Rob Reiner’s killing was tied to his politics — perhaps attempting to create some sort of political-violence angle in the face of what appears to be a horrific and tragic end to a family struggle with a son’s addiction, or perhaps just trolling.
Trump called Reiner a “tortured and struggling, but once very talented” director who was “known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump.”
Other elected Republicans (many of whom hail from purple districts) are calling the remarks unbefitting of a president.
“It is not Presidential,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Axios on Monday. “The couple were stabbed to death. Most Americans want more and better from our President.”
“This statement is wrong. Regardless of one’s political views, no one should be subjected to violence, let alone at the hands of their own son,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) posted on Twitter. “It’s a horrible tragedy that should engender sympathy and compassion from everyone in our country, period.”
Rep. Stephanie Bice, a Republican from Oklahoma, gently corrected Trump on Twitter: “We should be lifting the family up in prayer, not making this about politics,” she wrote.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a once-ardent Trump ally who has become increasingly critical of the president and has since announced her retirement from Congress, posted similar remarks.
“This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies,” she said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reportedly dodged questions about Trump’s remarks on Monday, instead telling reporters the death was “shocking news.”
White House Furious With Hawley
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has started a new anti-abortion group ahead of next year’s midterms in a sign that, Trump’s advisers believe, is an initial step in a plan to potentially challenge Vice President JD Vance as Trump’s successor in 2028. Per Axios:
“Clearly, Senator Hawley and his political team learned nothing from the 2022 elections, when the SCOTUS abortion ruling [overturning Roe v. Wade] resuscitated the Democrats in the midterms,” a close Trump adviser told Axios.
Manhunt Continues
Local police and federal law enforcement are asking for the public’s help in identifying the suspected shooter in a killing at Brown University on Saturday, just one of several fatal, headline-grabbing attacks that took place over a particularly violent weekend. The victims of the Brown University shooting have been identified and the FBI is offering an award for information that leads to an arrest.
End of Year Hiatus
Thank you so much to TPM members and all of you who have signed up via Substack to receive my daily evening briefing in your inbox each evening. Your support and loyalty means so much. This is the last edition of Where Things Stand until the New Year, as I, and various other people who assist in this newsletter’s production, take breaks for the holidays.
There will be more deranged moments in American history in 2026 and I’ll be here to help you navigate it all. Thanks for reading 🙂
In Case You Missed It
Josh Kovensky on the ground at the New York Young Republicans’ Club’s annual gala: New York’s Young Republicans Beg for More, But Fret About a ‘MAGA Civil War’
The latest installment of Hunter Walker’s series on the Undocumented Underground: Underground Legal Clinics Offer a Lifeline to Migrants Facing Mass Deportation
Josh Marshall: Are the Broligarchs Ready to Be on the Downward Turn of the Wheel?
Trump Officials Celebrated With Cake After Slashing Aid. Then People Died of Cholera.
Morning Memo: The Dog That Hasn’t Barked in the D.C. Pipe Bomber Case
Josh Marshall: Remembering Rob Reiner
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
Trump Finds Out Bullying Doesn’t Work in Indiana
What We Are Reading
After Backlash, Jared Kushner Drops Plan to Build a Trump Hotel in Serbia
Inside Stephen Miller’s Dark Plot to Build a MAGA Terror State
Hero who wrestled gun from terrorist says he’d do it again despite being ‘riddled with bullets’
The thing with Trump is he has no couth. It would be too polite to call him uncouth. Couth and Trump are polar opposites.
I am one who will miss the catch up with the news.
I know you all work hard and deserve a break, but a three week break?
Is that all…speaking up? What are they going to DO about it? This is just as bad as the so called snake ‘story’ at his Christmas gathering yesterday (Sunday).
Very optimistic to assume that the US will survive for three more weeks under the Trump regime, but enjoy your well-earned break!
I’m also a bit taken aback by the long year end break by Where Things Stand. This is still a news site isn’t it ? Are there no staffers to rotate with ? As a long time Premium Member I am very disappointed in this decision