Trump launches sick attack on Rob Reiner after he’s found dead in apparent homicide

US president Donald Trump has launched a blistering attack on director and human rights activist Rob Reiner, who was found dead alongside his wife in what is being treated as a homicide, and bizarrely claimed he was suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome”.

The Hollywood couple, who were married for three decades, were found dead in their home in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles, California after police and firefighters were called to the residence on Sunday afternoon (14 December).

The couple’s son Nick, 32, has been arrested in connection with his parents’ deaths and, as per the BBC, has been charged with a felony level crime.

News of their deaths has sent shock waves through the entertainment industry and wider US society, with tributes pouring in from notable names like former president Barack Obama, actress Kathy Bates and author Stephen King.

The director, 78, made his name as the character Michael “Meathead” Stivic on All in the Family in the 1970s before writing, directing and producing a raft of hit films including This is Spinal Tap, Stand by Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally and Misery.

As news around the circumstances of the pair’s deaths continues to emerge, Republican president Trump took to his Truth Social account to publish a scathing attack on Reiner.

Trump wrote: “A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, 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, sometimes referred to as TDS.

“He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before.

“May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”

Reiner was a Democrat and outside of his work in the entertainment business campaigned on behalf of several causes including LGBTQ+ equality.

In response, political commentator Brian Krassenstein labelled Trump’s comments as “the most disgusting post Donald Trump has ever made”.

“He claims that Rob Reiner was killed ‘due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME’,” Krassenstein wrote. “Imagine if I said this about Charlie Kirk.”

The BBC’s North America correspondent, Anthony Zurcher, noted that outrageous posts from Trump are nothing unusual but said a post such as this, in such circumstances, is “startling” for a global leader.

“Donald Trump has made his share of derogatory and callous statements about his critics and political adversaries over the course of his 10 years in the national political spotlight. He has reached a point where comments that would once be headline-generating controversies if uttered by an American leader now barely register a ripple,” Zurcher wrote.

“Trump’s Truth Social post attributing Rob Reiner’s death to his ‘Trump derangement syndrome’ – suggesting that the famous Hollywood director and actor’s political views somehow contributed to his possible murder – is still startling, given the lack of evidence so far from police.”

On X, Democrat strategist Max Burns described the post as a “monstrosity”, adding: “I don’t want to hear another sanctimonious word from the Republicans who accused Democrats of not showing enough sadness when Charlie Kirk died.”