Has Donald Trump succumbed to Trump Derangement Syndrome? 

The director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle were found dead in their Los Angeles home yesterday. The couple were discovered with their throats slit open; a knife was found nearby on the premises and their son Nick is being held as a suspect. The nation has been stunned by the brutal circumstances of the Reiners’ deaths – though the requisite level of empathy is apparently yet to reach 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. This morning, the President issued the following screed on his Truth Social account:

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…

Even 10 years into Trump’s foray into politics, it is astonishing to think that the President of the United States is the one on the other side of that screen. You might expect a statement of that kind to come from the mouth of a schizophrenic shouting on the street. Trump, who is often accused of being out of touch, is usually quite intentional and tends to draw out certain lines when verbally attacking his enemies. This particular post rings of conspiratorial self-disclosure, the likes of which any PR team would have caught and killed before it saw the light of day.

It is not yet clear why Nick Reiner may have wanted to kill his parents. In 2016, Nick and his father released Being Charlie, a semi-autobiographical film following Nick’s experiences with heroin addiction and homelessness. The story here might be one of a drug-induced breakdown or some other kind of severe mental illness.

Nick Reiner is currently being held at Los Angeles County Jail on a $4 million bail. LA is a city of high-profile homicides. Be it the Charles Manson murders which took place during the summer of 1969, or the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994. The fame of those involved, the dark cinematics – car chases, psychedelics – and the uncanny intimacy between the victims and perpetrators tie all of these incidents together. 

Trump’s comments prompted Cockburn to think about the conversation still taking place surrounding Charlie Kirk’s murder. The influencer’s death prompted a range of responses, from gloating to appropriate sympathy on the left and righteous outrage to cries for civil war on the right. It goes without saying that no one should be executed for political speech in America. Though at this point, the only person ascribing a political motive to the Reiners’ deaths is President Trump. The last few months have offered Americans a number of opportunities to debase themselves by mocking the deaths of people with whom they disagree. Who knew that the President would come so close to joining their ranks? Or is it now presidential to mock the recently murdered?