Swift and fairly overwhelming. That best describes the reaction to President Donald Trump’s Monday post about the prior day’s murder of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele. If you haven’t seen the Trump statement, it’s an instant ‘WTF’ classic:
George Runner, a conservative Republican who served in both the California legislature and on the State Board of Equalization over a 22 year span, reacted this way:
“I support the policies that President Trump is implementing.
“However, his comments on the tragic and terrible murder of the Reiners are inexcusable.
“Rob Reiner shared very appropriate and caring words on the assassination of Charlie Kirk. It is unfortunate that the President couldn’t have been as sensitive and caring in his comments.
“I believe it is important for those of us who support the president to also be quick to criticize when he screws up like this!”
Runner is referring to what the liberal Reiner said about the death of evangelical, conservative Kirk. It’s worth watching:
It should come as no surprise at this point that Trump couldn’t muster the same type of sentiment for a fellow human being’s tragedy.
Trump admitted as much at Kirk’s memorial, showing awe at Erika Kirk’s stated forgiveness of her husband’s assassin, while saying, “I am sorry, Erika… I hate my opponent and I don’t want the best for them.”
Not even in death, apparently.
“(Trump) never fails to make everything about himself,” wrote the ‘Libertarian Redhead’ in a Facebook post. “It’s so disturbing and disconnected from reality.”
Longtime California conservative activist Mike Der Manouel was also pretty pointed:
“Trump’s comments about Rob Reiner were embarrassing, ridiculous and inappropriate. It’s horrific how the left reacted to the murder of Charlie Kirk and assassination attempts on the president. Stooping to that level of heinousness is unacceptable — period.”
The Free Press went with this:
The article starts with:
“Given Rob Reiner’s contributions to American culture—from his days as a sitcom star on ‘All in the Family’ to his direction of iconic films such as ‘When Harry Met Sally’ and ‘A Few Good Men’—it was entirely appropriate for the president of the United States to weigh in on his horrifying death over the weekend.
“In response to the brutal murder of a film icon, President Trump resorted to an all-too-common ‘unthinking cruelty,’ a choice unbecoming for the leader of the free world.
“Sadly, the way President Donald Trump has done so is beyond the pale. His Monday post on Truth Social is worth reading in full, in part because many Republican lawmakers will spend the next few days claiming not to have seen it…”
(Here’s the rest of the FreePress article if you care to deal with the firewall.)
Whether it’s true that many GOP politicians will say they haven’t seen Trump’s words is not the sole point.
It’s that those politicians continue to navigate a reality in which they may support Trump’s policies, yet also have to choose between either proclaiming disdain for his words or lie about having read them.
That has to be extremely frustrating.
“I don’t regret my vote or why I voted,” said Officer Deon Joseph, a law enforcement consultant who has worked for the LAPD for over 25 years. “But I fully admit that sometimes I wish this man would just STFU and just lead the country. Throwing dirt on a man who was murdered is wrong. I get it. The guy came for you. But you (Trump) missed a huge opportunity to rise above it. Stop tweeting dumb crap and lead.”
Stop tweeting dumb crap and lead. That’s it. Simple.
To be clear, no advisor is telling the President to post this stuff. He’s not playing 4D chess at a level the rest of us can’t understand.
It’s simply him.
Even if you believe Reiner’s hate for Trump justifies the trolling the president pursues as his norm, what a missed opportunity to rise above it, show compassion, and be a statesman.
He doesn’t have it in him.
For conservatives to have to separate the man’s policies from his mouth — and his heart — is now the norm, the world in which they live, their political reality.
Here’s to looking for a conservative politician who will just say it the way it is for them: “Trump is a vile individual, but he gets things accomplished. Like it or not, he’s vile, but he’s ours.”