Is it too much to ask that when a man and his wife are murdered by their son, the president of the United States refrain from making ugly statements about the deceased? The killing of Rob and Michele Reiner by their son, Nick, over the weekend had nothing whatsoever to do with Donald Trump, but the most powerful man in America made it all about himself by railing about Reiner’s Trump Derangement Syndrome.

I’m beginning to think Trump himself has a strain of TDS — the kind that leads a few supporters to think he can do no wrong.

After the Reiners’ murder, Trump posted on Truth Social:

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!

The blowback was immediate from both sides.

Naturally, leftists hate everything Trump says and does, so it’s hardly surprising that they’d object to his comments. Yet maybe all the leftists who celebrated Charlie Kirk’s murder or Rush Limbaugh’s death from cancer should sit this one out.

The criticism from the Right, however, was just as strong, and much more credible. Asked about that, Trump did what Trump does — he doubled down:

Well, I wasn’t a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned. He said he liked — he knew it was false. In fact, it’s the exact opposite that I was a friend of Russia, controlled by Russia. You know, the Russia hoax. He was one of the people behind it. I think he hurt himself in — career-wise. He became like a deranged person. 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.

Reiner got his start on “All in the Family,” playing the liberal foil to Archie Bunker. He was a beloved Hollywood director who made some of the best movies of the last 50 years. “The Princess Bride,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Misery,” and “A Few Good Men” are just four of his classics. His personal favorite was “Stand by Me.” Beyond his talented work, most folks considered him a decent person, too. This isn’t Harvey Weinstein we’re talking about. He most certainly didn’t deserve a brutal death at the hands of his mentally disturbed son.

However, Reiner was especially vocal about his left-wing views. He spent most of the last decade routinely vilifying Trump. With stunning originality of thought, he often likened Trump to — wait for it — Hitler, fascists, and Nazis. He called Trump “a criminal” who “basically lies every minute of his life,” and he warned of “full-on autocracy” under Trump. He accused him of “treason” on multiple occasions and pushed the phony “Russia collusion” hoax as hard as anyone. Trump wasn’t actually wrong that Reiner had a serious case of TDS.

As a presidential candidate, Trump came within an inch of being assassinated himself — because of overheated rhetoric like Reiner’s. It’s little wonder the president didn’t like the Hollywood icon.

But still. Give it a rest, Mr. President. Yes, Reiner “started it,” but just once, be the bigger man.

I mentioned Kirk’s death above, and the president was among those advocating that people face consequences for publicly celebrating the political assassination of a young husband and father by a deranged leftist. Conservative commentator Erick Erickson posted on X, “All those people who lost their jobs for their disgusting tweets about Charlie Kirk’s assassination are staring at the President of the United States’s social media account in disbelief.”

Notably, for all of his political nonsense, Reiner was gracious and compassionate in his response to Kirk’s murder. “I felt absolute horror,” he said in September. “I unfortunately saw the video of it, and it’s beyond belief what happened to him. That should never happen to anybody. I don’t care what your political beliefs are. That’s not acceptable. That’s not a solution.” Of Erika Kirk’s remarkable eulogy, Reiner said, “I’m Jewish, but I believe in the teachings of Jesus, and I believe in doing unto others, and I believe in forgiveness. And what she said, to me, was beautiful. She forgave his assassin, and I think that that is admirable.”

Back to Trump’s comments, Mick Mulvaney, former acting chief of staff and Office of Management and Budget director, said, “I don’t get it. This is sort of like the John McCain thing,” referring to the time Trump criticized the late Arizona senator for his time as a Vietnam prisoner of war. Mulvaney added, “There isn’t one single person in this country who is going to think more favorably of him because he attacked Reiner.”

Likewise, numerous elected Republicans voiced their objections. Perhaps Senator John Kennedy said it best: “A wise man once said nothing. Why? Because he’s a wise man. I think President Trump should have said nothing.”

It’s true that President Trump has more reason than most to be angry with his political opponents, who’ve unceasingly vilified him, impeached him twice, prosecuted him umpteen times, and tried to kill him twice. Yet Trump seems to want to outdo himself with graceless and pugnacious tirades. This wasn’t like his recent “garbage” comments about Somali criminals. This was just sheer spite directed at a citizen who didn’t like him.

The saddest thing is just how far short of presidential character Trump sometimes falls. He can be painfully narcissistic, obnoxiously obtuse, doggedly obsessed with grievances, and shockingly spiteful. And when it comes to this sort of episode, Jim Geraghty is right: “Donald Trump’s entire worldview of whether someone is a good person or a bad person depends entirely on whether that person offers praise or criticism of Trump.”

It’s almost amusing that this kerfuffle coincides with all the hoopla over Chief of Staff Susie Wiles’s Vanity Fair interview, in which she noted that the president has “an alcoholic’s personality.” Trump didn’t deny it but backed her up. “I don’t drink alcohol,” he explained. “So everybody knows that — but I’ve often said that if I did, I’d have a very good chance of being an alcoholic. I have said that many times about myself, I do. It’s a very possessive personality.”

For all of the outstanding policies Donald Trump has implemented in five years as president (along with a few less exciting ones), he far too frequently shoots himself in the foot with his boorish behavior. Don’t get angry with me and others for noticing. Be angry with Trump for doing it in the first place.

Follow Nate Jackson on X.