Donald Trump faced a storm of condemnation Monday after posting what critics described as "perverse" and "sick" remarks suggesting Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered because of the celebrated filmmaker's criticism of the US president.
As tributes for Reiner poured in from celebrities and movie world figures, Trump used his Truth Social platform to launch a crude attack on the director of "When Harry Met Sally" and other huge hits.
Trump claimed the Reiners had died "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."
"He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession with President Donald J Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness," the Republican leader wrote.
Trump's comments came as police announced that Reiner's son, Nick, had been taken into custody and booked into a Los Angeles jail on suspicion of murder, a development that intensified the backlash.
"This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies," US congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former Trump ally turned outspoken critic, wrote on X in response to his attack.
"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."
Thomas Massie, another critic of Trump on the Republican side of the House of Representatives, called the president's comments "inappropriate and disrespectful."
"I guess my elected (Republican) colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they're afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it," Massie said.
Trump has a long record of incendiary social media posts that have outraged Democrats, but open condemnation from within Republican ranks was once almost unthinkable.
Miles Taylor, a former Trump administration homeland security official who became a prominent internal critic after anonymously publishing a 2019 tell-all book, accused Trump of "mocking the dead" and branded him a "sick creep."
"His attacks on (Republican senator) John McCain after the veteran's death pushed me to speak out from within his administration. (The) taunting of Rob Reiner's murder makes me even more determined to defy Trump."
Democrats also responded with fury. David Axelrod, the former chief strategist to President Barack Obama, described Trump's post as "perverse."
"The absence of empathy & grace for the Reiner family in their moment of profound loss and grief is sad and revealing. For @POTUS, his grievances trump their grief."
Democratic Senator Chris Murphy said Trump had "lost it."
"Now saying Rob and Michele Reiner caused their own murder because they didn't support him. So sick," he wrote.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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