The world was stunned on Sunday to hear about the tragic death of acclaimed director Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner at their Los Angeles home.
The couple’s son, Nick Reiner, has since been arrested and is facing two counts of first-degree murder.
Following the news, President Donald Trump launched a scathing attack on the director on his Truth Social platform.
Mr Trump labelled Reiner “tortured and struggling”, and also claimed 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”.
The president’s comments were swiftly denounced by many in the political and entertainment worlds alike, with California’s Democratic governor Gavin Newsom calling Trump a “sick man” and late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel, a regular Trump critic, calling his remarks “hateful and vile”.
Trump’s comments come after years of criticism from Reiner regarding Trump’s fitness for office and policy decisions.
Here’s the full timeline of their feud, right up to the latest reaction following Reiner’s death.
Pre 2015
Rob Reiner was a lifelong Democrat as well as a well-known Hollywood figure, and was engaged in political activism well before Donald Trump entered politics.
Reiner backed a number of Democratic candidates and causes, and was a co-founder of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which initiated the court challenge against California Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage in the state.
2015
Donald Trump announces his Republican presidential campaign.
Reiner publicly opposed Trump’s candidacy, appearing in the media criticising Trump’s rhetoric and political positions, particularly on immigration and nationalism.
2016
The director was blunt in criticising Trump’s fitness for office - in an interview with MSNBC in May, Reiner discussed his support for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, and said that Trump would be considered a "lunatic in the park standing on a soapbox" if he weren't famous.
When Trump won the presidency in November 2016, Reiner publicly expressed his disappointment at a National Archives screening, calling Trump’s first term "the last big major battle of the Civil War".
Reiner said it was a step backward in history, following progress since the Civil Rights movement in the 1970s.
2017
Reiner stepped up his criticism in 2017, calling Trump unqualified and mentally unfit in an interview with Variety.
Reiner also accused the American press of failing to hold him to account.
“Donald Trump is the single most unqualified human being to ever assume the presidency of the United States,” Reiner said.
“He is mentally unfit. Not only does he not understand how government works, he has no interest in trying to find out how it works.”
Also in 2017, Reiner and his wife Michele helped launch the Committee to Investigate Russia, which focused on compiling information about apparent Russian interference in American elections - something Trump has often referred to as a hoax.
2018
Speaking to The Independent in February 2018, Reiner said: “Right now we’ve got this battle of the soul of whether democracy survives – what is true and what is not true. It’s very scary here in this country.”
Reiner also demanded Trump’s impeachment, posting on X (then Twitter): "Each day this mentally unstable man takes a step closer to destroying 242 yrs. of self rule. And though Democrats want to be restrained, impeachment is inevitable."
Reiner accused Trump of committing treason after his announcement that he would pull the military from Syria, and criticised the president’s relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying: "He is aiding and abetting the enemy in The War against Isis and The Cyberwar against Russia."
2022
There weren’t many criticisms of Trump from Reiner between 2019 and 2021 - but the director ramped up the attacks again in 2022.
Reiner famously portrayed ‘Meathead’ in "All in the Family" an American sitcom which aired in the 1970s, and his character sharply opposed his father-in-law, the staunchly conservative and proud American Archie Bunker.
But according to Reiner, even Archie would have shifted his views after the attack on the Capitol in January 2021, and would have discontinued his support of Trump.
In an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta, Reiner said: "I do think Archie would've been really upset to see cops beaten by insurgents, and then to find out as time goes by that Trump was...at the hub of all this, and it was Trump's operation altogether.”
Reiner called for Trump to face criminal consequences for the Capitol attack.
He posted on X: "Every day that goes by without Donald Trump being indicted for leading a deadly insurrection to overthrow the United States government takes us one day closer to ending our democracy".
2023
When Trump was indicted on charges for his actions after the 2020 election, Reiner posted; “Indictment #2. Couldn't happen to a nicer Criminal. More to come. Fascism and Racism was just hit by a massive blow of Democracy".
The director also told MS NOW when discussing the following year’s presidential election: “You have one candidate, Trump, who actually tells you he’s going to govern like an authoritarian. Do we want fascism or do we want to continue the 248 years of self-rule? Do we want to continue democracy or do we want to slip into fascism?”
2024
Reiner openly supported Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential race, before Mr Biden withdrew his candidacy to be replaced by Kamala Harris.
Speaking to The Guardian in February, Reiner said: “Look, he’s old! But you have one guy who stumbles around, whatever. And another guy who’s a criminal, basically lies every minute of his life, has been indicted 91 times!”
Speaking about Trump to Good Morning Britain in August, Reiner said: “I’m afraid of what he is, and what he represents, and the forces that are behind him, which is this white Christian nationalism and this authoritarianism that he seems to be fine to embrace.
“I don’t think he has any real ideology. I don’t think he cares about anything; he only cares about himself. It’s all about self-aggrandisement and self-enrichment.
“He is a criminal, and the people who are supporting him and the movement that is supporting him see him as a vessel to being able to get what they want.”
2025
Speaking to The Daily Beast in September, Reiner compared America's political climate to that of "Nazi Germany."
In October, Reiner reiterated his point on MSNBC, discussing the presence of ICE agents and the National Guard in cities across the US.
"Make no mistake, we have a year before this country becomes a full-on autocracy, and democracy completely leaves us," Reiner said.
Reiner theorised that polling booths could end up being patrolled by armed military guards during the 2026 midterm elections, possibly giving way to violent protests which could give Trump the ability to commandeer future elections.
Reiner also attacked Trump’s clampdown on free speech, saying: “It’s beyond McCarthy era-esque. That feels quaint compared to what’s going on in America right now.”
Reiner’s death
On Sunday December 14th, Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their home in Brentwood, California, with multiple stab wounds.
While tributes to Reiner poured in from across the world, Trump posted on Truth Social to praise his own accomplishments while asserting that Reiner’s “raging obsession” and “obvious paranoia” toward him stood in contrast to the Trump administration.
Trump maintained that he had “surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness … with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before”.
Following widespread outrage at his comments, Trump doubled-down rather than apologising, calling Reiner a “deranged person” who had wrongly accused him of being “controlled by Russia” and had been “very bad for our country”.
Responding to a reporter’s question at a White House event, the president said “I wasn’t a fan of his at all, he was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned.”
“He knew it was false, in fact it was the exact opposite, but he said that I was a friend of Russia, controlled by Russia, the Russia hoax, he was one of the people behind it. I think he hurt himself career-wise, he became like a deranged person,” he added.
Trump’s comment sharply opposed the response to Charlie Kirk’s murder, where Republicans and Trump supporters were sharply critical of anyone who highlighted Kirk's controversial views in the aftermath of his death in September.
Critics on both sides of the political aisle have since spoken out against Trump’s comments.
Republican U.S. Representative Thomas Massie said: "Regardless of how you felt about Rob Reiner, this is inappropriate and disrespectful discourse about a man who was just brutally murdered".
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a major Trump ally, said: "We have to appeal to our better angels, and I think we've got to amplify those voices and those sentiments.”
Jimmy Kimmel said: “That corroded brain is in charge of our lives,” while US House member Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democrat, called Trump “a despicable piece of garbage.”
Meanwhile, there were a host of tributes to both Reiner, 78, and Michele, 68.
In a joint statement shared with the Associated Press, Billy Crystal, Larry David, Martin Short and Albert Brooks remembered Rob and Michele as "a special force together - dynamic, unselfish and inspiring".
"Rob was also a passionate, brave citizen, who not only cared for this country he loved, he did everything he could to make it better and with his loving wife Michele, he had the perfect partner.”
In a press conference on Tuesday December 16th, prosecutors in Los Angeles confirmed they have filed murder charges against Nick Reiner over the deaths of his parents.
The suspect, 32, could be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty if found guilty, said District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
