Donald Trump is being widely condemned after making controversial comments about Rob Reiner’s death.
After the bodies of Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele, 68, were found at their Brentwood, Los Angeles home on Sunday, Trump took to social media with an apathetic note about the late director.
The US president used words like “tortured and struggling” for Reiner before claiming he died “due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind-crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
Trump later told reporters, “I wasn’t a fan of his at all, he was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned… He hurt himself career-wise, he became like a deranged person,” while also praising his own accomplishments and administration.
The Reiners’ 32-year-old son, Nick, was arrested Monday on suspicion of murdering his parents, with bail set at $4 million.
Public reaction to Trump’s remarks was immediate as actor Patrick Schwarzenegger called the statements “disgusting and vile,” while Whoopi Goldberg also condemned the comments.
Several lawmakers also criticised Trump, including Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost, who labeled him a “despicable piece of garbage,” and Republican Thomas Massie, who called the remarks “inappropriate and disrespectful” toward a brutally murdered man.
California Governor Gavin Newsom also wrote, “This is a sick man.”
Reiner had been an outspoken critic of Trump for years and once called him “mentally unfit” for office and warned of the risks of autocracy if he won a second term.
