I think many of the people who think words are violence are fortunate enough to have never experienced actual physical violence. Anyone who has understands the distinction all too well.
I think most of the people who claim words can be equivalent to violence don't really believe it. They know there's a huge difference but they also know to spout this claim because they're agitating, trolling, demonizing, & trying to provoke and obfuscate in order to further their preferred political narrative. Most of them know they're full of it but they find it useful.
I'm not presuming anything, just stating my opinion. Of course, I can't know for sure what anyone's thinking unless they come out and say it and even then they could be lying.
I think they do. I have never seen any reason to think that their belief is not sincere. The original indoctrinators were just developing pretexts for hate. And the later indoctrinators were just worked up to a frenzy by indoctrinators conveniently neglecting both negative evidence and understanding of fallacies.
On a relevant matter, I would say that novel and demonizing use of words by the Authoritarian Left is really a subset of various other fallacies: Shifting Meaning, Name-Calling, Guilt by Association, and the largely incomprehensible phrase "affirming the consequent". Its meaning can be described as "consistent with" means "indicative of". That is like saying that there is no such thing as subsets.
its true noone knows the pain of murder except the person being killed,, move media out of NYC and LA and enact strict laws on broadcasters and break up DC,,its a bowl of gasoline popcorn
If they've never experienced physical violence that's a good thing; I don't wish it on them. But those who have need to remind people that physical violence is a whole other level from verbal abuse.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. These children have no idea what violence is. They've probably been raised in a household where they were never even spanked. ✋
Or having a swat to the backside - that's what you probably mean by "spanked", but that's an old fashioned term that means many whacks to the but, over and over. I think I did that maybe once to each child. Other times, if needed, it was a quick swat to the forearm or backside, so soft that it didn't leave a mark - it's just stung their defiance. Most of the time, it was the threat of consequences for their actions that brought about correct actions on their part. And as much as possible, I gave consequences the infraction, so the speak. That's logical and it helps them get the point.
Or experienced a lot of things.... barely getting by, not being able to find a job that pays the bills, having violence in their community (even a little bit is anxiety producing), having a close family member get an illness that the medical establishment really doesn't know how to treat, having a genetic disability - and I could go on.
On February 7, 2018, Brennan and Clapper “sat down with” Rob Reiner for a recorded discussion titled “Democracy Under Attack: A Conversation with James Clapper and John Brennan,” produced under the Committee to Investigate Russia, on whose advisory board Reiner and Clapper served. This on‑camera event confirms that Reiner did in fact meet with both men together in a formal, public setting.
Rob Reiner associated with two of the most notorious members of our intelligence community who worked for years to get Trump in the Russiagate plot, coupled with years of Rob Reiner’s social media posts about Trump, calling him a threat to democracy, a fascist, Hitler, etc., and Trump gets criticized for saying some mean things about Reiner after his tragic death? At least Trump is honest. I really don’t care about Trump’s comments about Rob Reiner. Rob Reiner and his intel buddies tried to destroy Trump for years. I think Trump has a right to some anger.
Yes. And Trump seems to have entirely ignored him until he was murdered. That intemperate post boosted Reiner's influence.
I can find not Tweets/Posts/Articles of Trump responding to Reiner's unhinged partisanship - until the day after Reiner's murder. Trump had been wisely circumspect until the exact moment ad hominem vitriol would most damage MAGA.
There is not enough time left in the universal hour glass for Trump to address all the vitriol and nastiness that is aimed at him 24/7 without ceasing from people who actually think they're morally superior. Morally superior people who openly wish for his death and urge the less stable to "do it" (wink, wink). When in actuality most of them are like Reiner; they have their own personal demons and failures they ignore while they put on their cape to save the world from Trump.
I'm not saying Trump doesn't deserve criticism. Everyone needs to be held accountable. But many criticize him from the outside without trying to empathize with him at all. I'd love for any critic of Trump to spend a year in his shoes so we can see how conciliatory and gracious that person is when they are publicly attacked and smeared daily, how slow they are to vent when dodging bullets while speaking, how cordial they are when they are impeached, spied on and raided because of lies, and how polite they are when everything that goes wrong is blamed on him and he gets no credit for anything that is done to the benefit of America.
I agree totally, he seriously has been put through hell and anyone who doesn't agree with that is kidding themselves. Imagine the feelings too of his wife and children and those of us who voted for him. It's really an insult to all and ignorant as well. No one is perfect including the haters. And that's my final word on the subject. He said RIP at the end so time to move on.
Good point,,the rightside is always fair minded to our enemies, they NEVER do that,,except, John Fetterman,,the JFK of the left,,he has both qualities left and right
I don't care about Trump dissing Reiner either. I care about Trump acting like a megalomaniacal narcissist. He's hurting his own cause and he can't see that because of his ego.
As someone who has a Narcissistic father, including a sister with a masters in psychology who says he is a Narcissist, i can tell you what looking at his kids, Trump is not Narcissistic
I am single so a sticking point for me is this: up until about 140 years ago, the primary obligation of a parent was to find suitable spouses for their children.
Now, in order to FIND a suitable spouse, one most likely should BE a suitable spouse. So in essence, everything that you equate with parenting - education, career, etc. - is really geared toward giving the offspring the best chance to find a SUITABLE spouse.
So, from my point of view, when Trump - a man of means who could essentially have his pick of women around the world- says, "If Ivanka was not my daughter I would date her", that is just a Queens way of saying, "I did a good job of raising my daughter".
My parents have never promoted me as boyfriend or husband material
The arguments from authority and from a distance are unpersuasive. Perhaps there is another word describing Trump's obvious paper-thin-skinned ego, demonstrated lack of impulse control, and flaunting, massive self regard. I'd be happy to know it.
I would call Trump many things, but "thin-skinned" is not one of them. I could barely function for a year over one false (knowingly) defamatory mild accusation of having trespassed on someone's property.
Such is the power of the fallacy (formerly) known as Name-Calling, or "ad hominem", which really means "bad person, bad beliefs". So if Ted Bundy supported Capitalism, would that prove that we should all condemn Capitalism? It's concerning that such arguments seem to be somehow very persuasive. I'm glad you got out of that trap. But it seems that most Lefties who fall into that trap do not ever, and will not ever, get out of it.
His endurance of the withering attacks is admirable. Not that he was quiet about them or that he had any real choice.
And I'll grant you his skin was thick enough that he seems to have considered Reiner to be beneath contempt.
He didn't _mention_ Reiner on social media until immediately after Reiner's murder. Which seems to me ghoulish and -especially- unnecessary.
This ad hominem explosion upon Reiner's murder damages MAGA's future. I don't think he cares. Because he sees whatever he does as MAGA marching orders.
I agree .. and I also adore Reiner and his body of work. However, I am not the one who was publicly accused of being a racist and fascist nonstop for ten years.
I saw some vile filth using ugly words against the president from the meathead on twitter but I see it has conveniently disappeared...anyone using the word azzwhole is right away trash and someone who disgusts me, they are low life in my world and that wasn't the worst from a Rob R post. The president is Superman to me in the big picture,Granted he could tone down the rhetoric but he is still the savior we need at this time compared to the last two dingalings who actually WERE a danger to America and all of us for the past four years and before that the Obama years.
If you were subjected to the many years of work and money of an entertainer who personally worked closely with politicians and unelected senior bureaucrats trying to destroy your reputation, your business, your family, your presidency — and who constantly publicly spewed hatred so vile it contributed to two assassins being inspired to kill you and others — you might understand.
Similarly, to those who thought Trump was being narcissistic when he said he was not as quick as Erika Kirk to forgive an assassin: take an assassin's bullet through the ear, then opine.
While Trump would have been wiser to have said something innocuous publicly and saved the venting for when he was talking to a trusted family member or friend, it is no mystery why he was no fan of Reiner.
You put your finger on a thing that troubles non-Progressive types: the far left makes up new words for their violent ideology, hoping to convince themselves as much as others that what they intend to do is justifiable.
I have long written that the most lasting legacy of contemporary progressives is the perversion of language, beginning with "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."
"According to the Daily Beast, Judd Apatow said when Trump was elected he felt like "a person about to get raped, but I didn't know how bad it would be." Now with Trump in office, he said, "I feel like I've just been raped and I just don't know if I'm going to get murdered."
Sasha, your great article reminded me of this statement from 2017. I thought to myself, "Maybe Judd should experience being raped and then decide if the Trump equivalency is rational."
Again I must say, President Trump did NOT say anything vile or even wrong or in bad taste. People need to get over their timid feelings and stop critiquing every word.
It wasn’t anything like the left. There was nothing wrong with his response. You may think he should have done something different, but I think he should always be honest above all else.
Yes, I’m aware of this discussion w/ Clapper & Brennen from 7 years ago. They & Rob all had/have sever cases of TDS. Our Prez insinuated Rob & wife were murdered due to TDS. That remains tone deaf, unproven and classless. And the video shows that my politics and Rob’s are polar opposite. I’m a 3x Trump voter.
As a general rule for all of humanity. Don’t put any ‘buts’ in your eulogy unless that person is Hitler, Stalin or Mao. Doing so makes you the smaller person.
In a few hours Trump will address the nation, prep us for a (hopefully) short war w/ Venezuela [or whatever it takes to depose Maduro] and the conversation can then change to a new subject.
At the time of that posting, it had not yet been reported that Nick was the assailant. Trump assumed that someone who trafficked in the kind of hatred directed at him (which Reiner regularly spewed) would result in the kind of incestuous murder that occurs in tribes filled with that same hatred. I kind of wish Trump would have followed up with that, but it's merely a wish.
JT, tell me the last eulogy you’ve read before the person was laid in the ground? After all, with your own words we are obligated to be truthful.
If you can’t answer this with instant recall then this is reason why folks like me (from the Right) see DJT’s post as tasteless and lacking in common decency. I don’t even like Rob Reiner but my humanity instructs me not to dunk on person after they meet an untimely death.
I think many of the people who think words are violence are fortunate enough to have never experienced actual physical violence. Anyone who has understands the distinction all too well.
Yep, huge difference between being shouted at with insulting words and being punched in the mouth.
I think most of the people who claim words can be equivalent to violence don't really believe it. They know there's a huge difference but they also know to spout this claim because they're agitating, trolling, demonizing, & trying to provoke and obfuscate in order to further their preferred political narrative. Most of them know they're full of it but they find it useful.
I think many really do, because they have never actually experienced real violence.
I can't presume to know what's in anyone's head but my own.
I'm not presuming anything, just stating my opinion. Of course, I can't know for sure what anyone's thinking unless they come out and say it and even then they could be lying.
Yup. Which is why actions are a better judge of character than words.
I think they do. I have never seen any reason to think that their belief is not sincere. The original indoctrinators were just developing pretexts for hate. And the later indoctrinators were just worked up to a frenzy by indoctrinators conveniently neglecting both negative evidence and understanding of fallacies.
On a relevant matter, I would say that novel and demonizing use of words by the Authoritarian Left is really a subset of various other fallacies: Shifting Meaning, Name-Calling, Guilt by Association, and the largely incomprehensible phrase "affirming the consequent". Its meaning can be described as "consistent with" means "indicative of". That is like saying that there is no such thing as subsets.
its true noone knows the pain of murder except the person being killed,, move media out of NYC and LA and enact strict laws on broadcasters and break up DC,,its a bowl of gasoline popcorn
Also true.
Indeed, I'd offer them a choice of having their foot stomped on or, instead, hearing a description of said act.
If they've never experienced physical violence that's a good thing; I don't wish it on them. But those who have need to remind people that physical violence is a whole other level from verbal abuse.
I agree with you wholeheartedly. These children have no idea what violence is. They've probably been raised in a household where they were never even spanked. ✋
Or having a swat to the backside - that's what you probably mean by "spanked", but that's an old fashioned term that means many whacks to the but, over and over. I think I did that maybe once to each child. Other times, if needed, it was a quick swat to the forearm or backside, so soft that it didn't leave a mark - it's just stung their defiance. Most of the time, it was the threat of consequences for their actions that brought about correct actions on their part. And as much as possible, I gave consequences the infraction, so the speak. That's logical and it helps them get the point.
😂😂
Those are laughing emojis....🤣🤣
Or experienced a lot of things.... barely getting by, not being able to find a job that pays the bills, having violence in their community (even a little bit is anxiety producing), having a close family member get an illness that the medical establishment really doesn't know how to treat, having a genetic disability - and I could go on.
The irony being, those who think words can justify violence, are the ones who spew the words most deserving of violence.
And it's disturbing to guess what the "Words are Violence" people could do once they gain political power.
Right on,,,the marriage of professors, journalists, politicians and Hollywood,,,,Hell on earth,,,next breathing will be violence
They don't kill you because you're a Nazi.
They call you a Nazi so they can kill you.
On Perplexity:
On February 7, 2018, Brennan and Clapper “sat down with” Rob Reiner for a recorded discussion titled “Democracy Under Attack: A Conversation with James Clapper and John Brennan,” produced under the Committee to Investigate Russia, on whose advisory board Reiner and Clapper served. This on‑camera event confirms that Reiner did in fact meet with both men together in a formal, public setting.
Rob Reiner associated with two of the most notorious members of our intelligence community who worked for years to get Trump in the Russiagate plot, coupled with years of Rob Reiner’s social media posts about Trump, calling him a threat to democracy, a fascist, Hitler, etc., and Trump gets criticized for saying some mean things about Reiner after his tragic death? At least Trump is honest. I really don’t care about Trump’s comments about Rob Reiner. Rob Reiner and his intel buddies tried to destroy Trump for years. I think Trump has a right to some anger.
Trump's post started out that it was a sad event.
Then he added that, at least at one time, he was talented.
Trump was far more conciliatory to Reiner than Reiner had been with Trump over the last decads
Fortunately for us Reiner was never the leader of the free world.
But Reiner was a loud, unrelenting, partisan activist in Hollywood, which has an outsized influence on the nation.
Yes. And Trump seems to have entirely ignored him until he was murdered. That intemperate post boosted Reiner's influence.
I can find not Tweets/Posts/Articles of Trump responding to Reiner's unhinged partisanship - until the day after Reiner's murder. Trump had been wisely circumspect until the exact moment ad hominem vitriol would most damage MAGA.
There is not enough time left in the universal hour glass for Trump to address all the vitriol and nastiness that is aimed at him 24/7 without ceasing from people who actually think they're morally superior. Morally superior people who openly wish for his death and urge the less stable to "do it" (wink, wink). When in actuality most of them are like Reiner; they have their own personal demons and failures they ignore while they put on their cape to save the world from Trump.
I agree and it needs to end,,freedom from forced persuasion
And at the end he added an RIP message for the couple so there is that!
Yeah. Decent of him.
I'm not saying Trump doesn't deserve criticism. Everyone needs to be held accountable. But many criticize him from the outside without trying to empathize with him at all. I'd love for any critic of Trump to spend a year in his shoes so we can see how conciliatory and gracious that person is when they are publicly attacked and smeared daily, how slow they are to vent when dodging bullets while speaking, how cordial they are when they are impeached, spied on and raided because of lies, and how polite they are when everything that goes wrong is blamed on him and he gets no credit for anything that is done to the benefit of America.
I agree totally, he seriously has been put through hell and anyone who doesn't agree with that is kidding themselves. Imagine the feelings too of his wife and children and those of us who voted for him. It's really an insult to all and ignorant as well. No one is perfect including the haters. And that's my final word on the subject. He said RIP at the end so time to move on.
Good point,,the rightside is always fair minded to our enemies, they NEVER do that,,except, John Fetterman,,the JFK of the left,,he has both qualities left and right
I don't care about Trump dissing Reiner either. I care about Trump acting like a megalomaniacal narcissist. He's hurting his own cause and he can't see that because of his ego.
As someone who has a Narcissistic father, including a sister with a masters in psychology who says he is a Narcissist, i can tell you what looking at his kids, Trump is not Narcissistic
And his grandchildren and his daughter in laws, especially Lara Trump who I feel would go well in future politics.
Trump grew up in Queens NYCity. He talks like people from Queens. They are up front and in your face and they don't back down.
That's how he knows how to negotiate with mass murdering enemies.
Isn't that the sort of leader we want in a world full of hatred and atomic weapons?
I am single so a sticking point for me is this: up until about 140 years ago, the primary obligation of a parent was to find suitable spouses for their children.
Now, in order to FIND a suitable spouse, one most likely should BE a suitable spouse. So in essence, everything that you equate with parenting - education, career, etc. - is really geared toward giving the offspring the best chance to find a SUITABLE spouse.
So, from my point of view, when Trump - a man of means who could essentially have his pick of women around the world- says, "If Ivanka was not my daughter I would date her", that is just a Queens way of saying, "I did a good job of raising my daughter".
My parents have never promoted me as boyfriend or husband material
The arguments from authority and from a distance are unpersuasive. Perhaps there is another word describing Trump's obvious paper-thin-skinned ego, demonstrated lack of impulse control, and flaunting, massive self regard. I'd be happy to know it.
Being Lied about, all most murdered, family members abused, framed, 1 billion in fake legal crap.
And that’s thin skinned!?
Oh please.
Rob lied, abused his son, the populace, his followers.
Drove his son to drug addiction then murder.
Rob worked with Obama etc to destroy Trump and our Country.
Save your self righteous BS
https://x.com/TheSCIF/status/2001013601419628734?s=20
I would call Trump many things, but "thin-skinned" is not one of them. I could barely function for a year over one false (knowingly) defamatory mild accusation of having trespassed on someone's property.
Such is the power of the fallacy (formerly) known as Name-Calling, or "ad hominem", which really means "bad person, bad beliefs". So if Ted Bundy supported Capitalism, would that prove that we should all condemn Capitalism? It's concerning that such arguments seem to be somehow very persuasive. I'm glad you got out of that trap. But it seems that most Lefties who fall into that trap do not ever, and will not ever, get out of it.
Hitler was a vegetarian. Vegetarians are fascists.
His endurance of the withering attacks is admirable. Not that he was quiet about them or that he had any real choice.
And I'll grant you his skin was thick enough that he seems to have considered Reiner to be beneath contempt.
He didn't _mention_ Reiner on social media until immediately after Reiner's murder. Which seems to me ghoulish and -especially- unnecessary.
This ad hominem explosion upon Reiner's murder damages MAGA's future. I don't think he cares. Because he sees whatever he does as MAGA marching orders.
I agree .. and I also adore Reiner and his body of work. However, I am not the one who was publicly accused of being a racist and fascist nonstop for ten years.
"admirable"
As Nanny Fran called it, "Queens logic"
Nanny Fran: Warm and funny. Real-world wisdom.
You think that's what Trump's post was?
Get over it already!
"Acting like". See there....
https://x.com/TheSCIF/status/2001013601419628734?s=20
You’re spewing the narrative of Rob.
GFY
Indeed!
I saw some vile filth using ugly words against the president from the meathead on twitter but I see it has conveniently disappeared...anyone using the word azzwhole is right away trash and someone who disgusts me, they are low life in my world and that wasn't the worst from a Rob R post. The president is Superman to me in the big picture,Granted he could tone down the rhetoric but he is still the savior we need at this time compared to the last two dingalings who actually WERE a danger to America and all of us for the past four years and before that the Obama years.
Perfect pitch Sasha, Thank you
Yes this was well written today 👍
If you were subjected to the many years of work and money of an entertainer who personally worked closely with politicians and unelected senior bureaucrats trying to destroy your reputation, your business, your family, your presidency — and who constantly publicly spewed hatred so vile it contributed to two assassins being inspired to kill you and others — you might understand.
Similarly, to those who thought Trump was being narcissistic when he said he was not as quick as Erika Kirk to forgive an assassin: take an assassin's bullet through the ear, then opine.
While Trump would have been wiser to have said something innocuous publicly and saved the venting for when he was talking to a trusted family member or friend, it is no mystery why he was no fan of Reiner.
You put your finger on a thing that troubles non-Progressive types: the far left makes up new words for their violent ideology, hoping to convince themselves as much as others that what they intend to do is justifiable.
...pure '1984'.
I have long written that the most lasting legacy of contemporary progressives is the perversion of language, beginning with "It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."
Worse. The far lefties abscond commonly well-understood words and redefines them to suit their own purposes.
They also love to co-opt and redefine common terms like 'justice,' 'racism,' 'male,' 'female,' and--to Sasha's point--'violence'.
Straight-up power play, and quite effective when coupled with emotional appeal/manipulation.
"According to the Daily Beast, Judd Apatow said when Trump was elected he felt like "a person about to get raped, but I didn't know how bad it would be." Now with Trump in office, he said, "I feel like I've just been raped and I just don't know if I'm going to get murdered."
Sasha, your great article reminded me of this statement from 2017. I thought to myself, "Maybe Judd should experience being raped and then decide if the Trump equivalency is rational."
The Constitution does not protect people from having their feelings hurt!!!
.... but gives them every right to be stupid, if they so choose.
Sasha, you're an excellent observer and skillful at writing your observations for us to ponder. Thanks.
How many times can I upvote Sasha’s post today? Whatever the limit, I’m there.
Again I must say, President Trump did NOT say anything vile or even wrong or in bad taste. People need to get over their timid feelings and stop critiquing every word.
Ruth, you don’t think Trump implying TDS is why Reiner was murdered is not in bad taste?
He said it was sad and that Reiner was talented.
That's far nicer than anything anyone on the Left has ever said about Trump
I get that. But why do we have to be like them? I refuse to do so, and I don’t like that my President models behaviors of (some) from the Left.
He said it was sad.
He wasn't celebratory
It wasn’t anything like the left. There was nothing wrong with his response. You may think he should have done something different, but I think he should always be honest above all else.
Because they use real bullets while we're stuck using rhetorical bullets.
Reiner suffered from TDS, in the worst, most public, way for over a decade. That's fact, not implication.
Yes, agree 100%, that is fact. But Rob Reiner death caused by TDS is not fact, but rather DJT Truth Social implication. Are we on the same page now?
Closer.
Trump rushed to judgement - as did many, on both sides. He should have withheld comment until more was known about the circumstances.
It was a gut reaction, spurred by personal experience, not an attempt to mislead.
I guess you failed to see that Trump doubled down in the post. So no not did he rush, but when questioned, rushed again.
No, you're right. I didn't see the second post. I closed my X account a couple of days ago.
I will still support the president. I care more what he does than what he tweets.
No
Rob lied to his followers, you, the world and abused his son with the same gaslighting and rage Rest.
https://x.com/TheSCIF/status/2001013601419628734?s=20
Yes, I’m aware of this discussion w/ Clapper & Brennen from 7 years ago. They & Rob all had/have sever cases of TDS. Our Prez insinuated Rob & wife were murdered due to TDS. That remains tone deaf, unproven and classless. And the video shows that my politics and Rob’s are polar opposite. I’m a 3x Trump voter.
As a general rule for all of humanity. Don’t put any ‘buts’ in your eulogy unless that person is Hitler, Stalin or Mao. Doing so makes you the smaller person.
In a few hours Trump will address the nation, prep us for a (hopefully) short war w/ Venezuela [or whatever it takes to depose Maduro] and the conversation can then change to a new subject.
At the time of that posting, it had not yet been reported that Nick was the assailant. Trump assumed that someone who trafficked in the kind of hatred directed at him (which Reiner regularly spewed) would result in the kind of incestuous murder that occurs in tribes filled with that same hatred. I kind of wish Trump would have followed up with that, but it's merely a wish.
No
I’m a fan, but everyone knows you take the high road ESPECIALLY when the other person is dead.
Not sure I’d agree. Reiner was an angry, hateful man. Did he deserve to die? No. Does he deserve a glowing eulogy? Not IMHO.
We are not obligated to be nice…but we are obligated to be truthful.
JT, tell me the last eulogy you’ve read before the person was laid in the ground? After all, with your own words we are obligated to be truthful.
If you can’t answer this with instant recall then this is reason why folks like me (from the Right) see DJT’s post as tasteless and lacking in common decency. I don’t even like Rob Reiner but my humanity instructs me not to dunk on person after they meet an untimely death.
It was high enough and stayed truthful.
Well done Sasha. It’s stunning that anyone over the age of 5 has not learned the difference between words and violence.
I asked ChatGPT to look at this situation from Trump's POV.....
1. From Trump’s Point of View, Reiner Was Not “Just a Critic”
Trump has always distinguished between:
people who disagree with him politically, and
people he believes actively tried to delegitimize or destroy him
From Trump’s perspective, Rob Reiner fell squarely into the second category.
Reiner was not merely making snide remarks or voting Democratic. He did several things Trump regards as crossing a line.
2. The Russia Investigation Was Trump’s Core Grievance — and Reiner Publicly Aligned With It
Why this matters to Trump
For Trump, the Russia investigation was:
an existential threat to his presidency,
an effort to portray him as illegitimate, possibly treasonous,
something he believes was a fabricated political operation, not a good-faith inquiry.
Trump has said repeatedly that “Russia, Russia, Russia” was the worst thing ever done to him politically.
What Reiner did
From Trump’s perspective, Reiner:
joined the Committee to Investigate Russia,
lent celebrity credibility to the idea that Trump was compromised by Russia,
supported messaging that framed the situation as a national emergency or “war,”
did so early, before the Mueller report concluded.
Even though Reiner had no legal power, Trump views narrative power as just as dangerous as legal power.
👉 In Trump’s worldview, Reiner wasn’t asking questions — he was amplifying an accusation of betrayal.
3. Reiner Questioned Trump’s Fitness, Legitimacy, and Moral Standing — Repeatedly
Reiner did not focus narrowly on policy disagreements. He publicly described Trump as:
mentally unfit,
authoritarian,
a threat to democracy,
dishonest and criminal.
From Trump’s perspective, this is not “normal politics.”
It is character assassination at the highest level, repeated over years, on major platforms.
Trump reacts far more harshly to:
attacks on legitimacy (election, presidency),
attacks on mental fitness,
attacks implying criminality or treason,
than he does to disagreements over taxes, immigration, or regulation.
4. Trump Takes Public Humiliation Personally — Especially From Cultural Elites
There is a psychological element that matters here.
Trump has long been sensitive to:
Hollywood figures,
cultural elites,
people who publicly signal that he is unworthy of respect.
Rob Reiner was:
famous,
successful,
associated with mainstream Hollywood respectability,
vocal and relentless.
From Trump’s perspective, Reiner wasn’t just criticizing him — he was helping define Trump as illegitimate in the cultural record.
That combination tends to provoke Trump’s strongest and most lasting grudges.
5. Trump Does Not Practice “Grace After Death” for Enemies
This is not unique to Reiner.
Trump’s pattern is:
forgiveness only for loyalty or neutrality,
continued hostility toward those he believes tried to destroy him,
no moral obligation to soften language because of death.
In Trump’s own framing:
“If someone tried to ruin my life, why should death erase that?”
To Trump, softening his response would feel like rewriting history or conceding wrongdoing.
6. From Trump’s Perspective — A Plain-Language Summary
From Trump’s point of view, Rob Reiner:
helped push the Russia narrative that questioned Trump’s legitimacy,
used fame to amplify claims Trump sees as false and damaging,
attacked Trump’s competence, sanity, and moral standing,
never backed down or softened his stance,
remained publicly hostile for years.
So when Reiner died, Trump likely saw:
not a private citizen,
not a neutral artist,
but a long-time adversary who never relented.
That does not justify the reaction — but it explains it.
Excellent
In 2020, I was admonished repeatedly that "silence is violence." Now I'm being told that my words are violence.
Such people only deserve our mockery.
Based on both men's social media posts, I would rather hangout with Trump than RIP Reiner.
To paraphrase Charlie, when people stop talking we get violence.
How true.