Rob Reiner’s unlikely connection to Donald Trump resurfaces as he is blasted for celebrating their deaths
President Donald Trump was widely derided on Monday for his ‘disgusting and vile’ attacks on the late Rob Reiner after he and his wife were apparently murdered.
But after Trump doubled down on his shocking comments, in which he accused the slain filmmaker of being ‘very bad for our country,’ Reiner’s surprising connection to the 79-year-old president came back into the light.
In a resurfaced podcast interview from 2017, the beloved All In The Family star revealed that his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, had snapped the photograph of Trump that went on to grace the cover of his ghost-written 1987 book The Art Of The Deal.
Singer Reiner, who was 68, was discovered at home along with her 78-year-old husband after their throats were allegedly slit, according to TMZ.
Their 32-year-old son Nick Reiner, who had battled drug abuse and mental illness for years, was arrested Monday and charged with their murders.
While appearing on Politico’s Off Message podcast in 2017, Reiner revealed his wife’s unexpected connection to Trump, who was then in the first year of his first term.
After Donald Trump was widely criticized for celebrating the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner, an interview from 2017 resurfaced in which Reiner revealed a surprising connection to Trump; Rob and Michel Singer Reiner were pictured in March in LA
In a post on his Truth Social site that elicited widespread condemnation from liberals, Hollywood figures and even some Republicans, Trump said the Reiners were killed due to ‘the anger he caused others’ through his ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’; pictured Monday in the Oval Office
Trump later doubled down, telling reporters in the Oval Office: ‘I wasn’t a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person. As far as Trump was concerned’
After former Politico Washington Correspondent Edward-Isaac Dovere asked Reiner for his estimation of Trump’s skills as a performer, he replied, ‘I mean, he has a persona, and he has a charisma.’
‘I’ll give you a story,’ Reiner teased before sharing an anecdote about how Trump once had a knack for optics.
‘My wife, Michele, who is a professional photographer, she took the photo that’s on the cover of the book The Art of the Deal.
‘And at one point, they were up on this high-rise that he was constructing, and they were going to take the pictures overlooking Central Park,’ Reiner explained. ‘And the wind was blowing, and he said, “I got to get this hairspray,” you know, “I need this special hairspray.”‘
Reiner went on to say that Trump ‘was always larger than life,’ and ‘always attractive in that, you know, charismatic celebrity way.’
The When Harry Met Sally director suggested that Trump’s charisma and fame were part of what made him so attractive to many of his voters.
However, Reiner also clarified that the president was ‘not for every audience.’
The Hollywood icon again referenced his wife’s connection to Trump’s larger-than-life persona in a 2018 interview with The Guardian.
On Politico’s Off Message podcast in 2017, Reiner revealed that his wife shot the cover photo of Trump used on his ghost-written 1987 bestseller The Art Of The Deal; Rob and Michele pictured in 2018 in West Hollywood
Reiner, a longtime critic, praised Trump’s ‘persona’ and ‘charisma’ and recalled how the President allegedly asked for hair spray to make his hair wouldn’t be messed up in the photo, which was shot on the roof of his property overlooking Central Park
‘She has a lot to atone for,’ he jokingly scolded her.
Reiner’s decades-long support for liberal political causes and his open distaste for Trump and his administration appeared to set Trump off when he responded to the Reiners’ tragic deaths.
In a post on his Truth Social site that elicited widespread condemnation from liberals, Hollywood figures and — in a surprising turn — even some Republicans, Trump claimed that Reiner and his wife were killed due to ‘the anger he caused others’ through his ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome.
‘A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood,’ Trump began his post. ‘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.’
In the rambling statement, in which he referred to himself in the third person, Trump said that Reiner 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!’
Despite the widespread criticism of the tasteless post, Trump doubled down when he was asked about it by reporters later on Monday.
‘Well, I wasn’t a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person. As far as Trump was concerned,’ he said, again referring to himself in the third person.
‘I think he hurt himself, career-wise. He became like a deranged person, [with] Trump derangement syndrome. So I was not a fan of Rob Reiner at all, in any way, shape or form. I thought he was very bad for our country.’
‘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,’ Trump wrote about Reiner on Monday; pictured Saturday in Baltimore, Maryland
Reiner was a longtime critic of Trump’s who attacked his conservative policies and what he saw as authoritarian tendencies; pictured in September on Late Night With Seth Meyers
Trump is no stranger to viciously ridiculing those he considers his political enemies after previously attacking the late Senator John McCain and General and former Secretary of State Colin Powell after their deaths.
Reiner, who had long railed against Trump, had accused him of being ‘mentally unfit’ and warned against what he saw as Trump’s authoritarian tendencies over the past decade.
In a 2017 interview with Variety, the Stand By Me director stated that ‘Donald Trump is the single most unqualified human being to ever assume the presidency of the United States.’
Trump’s furious remarks elicited criticism from members of the Republican Party who are usually in step with him.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who previously broke with Trump over his efforts to prevent the release of FBI files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said: ‘Rob Reiner and his wife were tragically killed at the hands of their own son, who reportedly had drug addiction and other issues, and their remaining children are left in serious mourning and heartbreak.
‘This is a family tragedy, not about politics or political enemies. 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.’
The conservative pundit Robbie Starbuck also wrote: ‘I don’t care what their politics were or how they felt about Trump, no law-abiding human deserves this. We should pray for + send condolences to his loved ones and NOT make it political.’
Trump’s comments were slammed by California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, among other Democratic politicians.
Reiner’s son Nick, 32, was arrested Monday in LA and booked for allegedly murdering his parents. He had struggled for years with drug addiction, mental illness and homelessness; pictured together in 2016 in NYC
The Reiners’ daughter, Romy, 28, who lives across the street, is said to have discovered her parents’ bodies when she visited their sprawling six-bedroom estate yesterday.
Reiner and his wife’s bodies were discovered by their daughter Romy, who lives in a house across the street from them with her children.
She reportedly told police that her brother Nick, who has struggled with drug addiction, mental illness and bouts of homelessness over the years, should be a ‘suspect’ in the killings.
He was later arrested at a Metro station in Los Angeles and booked with his parents double murder.
Their sibling, Jake, 34, is a former news reporter in Houston, Texas, and now writes screenplays.
Reiner also adopted a daughter, Tracy, with his ex-wife Penny Marshall, who died in 2018.
