Reader Comments: Trump Declares 'A Chicken in Every Pot'; US Murder Spree in Caribbean; Trump Chief of Staff Tells All; Youth Movement for Digital Justice is Spreading Across Europe; Verso End of Year Sale; Cartoons; and more...
Even by the low, moldy-basement standards of Trump-era discourse, the president’s reaction to the shocking murder of filmmaker Rob Reiner and his wife was grotesque. Within hours of police announcing the couple’s deaths—and the arrest of their son—Trump took to his social media platform to imply that Reiner died because he suffered from “TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” turning a family tragedy into yet another self-obsessed grievance performance.
This wasn’t just tasteless. It was indecent, dehumanizing, and symptomatic of a political movement that long ago lost the ability to distinguish political disagreement from personal cruelty. Reiner, a celebrated director of some of America’s most beloved films, was murdered. His wife was murdered. Their family is in shock. But to Trump, these deaths were simply another opportunity to portray himself as the universe’s central victim; the man so persecuted that even homicides must orbit around him.
The backlash was immediate and unusually bipartisan. Even conservatives who typically contort themselves into pretzels to defend Trump balked. Rep. Thomas Massie asked how anyone could “defend this.” Marjorie Taylor Greene, hardly a beacon of temperance, called for empathy. Right-wing commentators who usually revel in Trump’s insults suddenly pleaded for him to delete the post. When MTG and Jenna Ellis are begging the president to show basic human decency, you know the rot has gone deep.
Reiner spent his career making films that celebrated humanity, compassion, and moral courage. Trump responded to his death by diagnosing him with a fake condition and suggesting he somehow deserved what happened because he criticized the president. This wasn’t politics. It was cruelty as entertainment; a reminder that Trump’s default setting is spite, even in the face of unimaginable grief.
And let’s be clear: Trump’s defenders who now insist this was justified because Reiner once criticized the president are simply proving how warped the MAGA worldview has become. In their minds, political disagreement isn’t just disagreement. It’s treason, punishable by humiliation, cruelty, or worse. It’s the same logic that fueled Trump allies’ performative outrage when Charlie Kirk was tragically assassinated. Outrage they said was about demanding civility. Now that Trump himself is the one spitting on the concept of basic humanity, the silence from many of those same voices is screaming.
Rob Reiner said in one of his final interviews that the United States was sliding toward autocracy, that the political atmosphere had grown “beyond McCarthy era-esque.” Watching the president turn a double homicide into a personal victory lap feels like proof of exactly what he feared.
There are moments when we can see, with brutal clarity, the dividing line between leaders and bullies, between public servants and narcissists, between those who grieve with families and those who exploit grief for applause. Trump just showed the country which side he’s on. It wasn’t subtle.
Rob Reiner deserved far better in life, and unquestionably in death, than to be reduced to a punchline for a man who cannot stand to share the spotlight, even with tragedy.
The trouble is that the rump Supreme Court will twist the checks and balances established to circumvent a rogue president from becoming a dictator. We are now a nation with the murderous distinction that Russia, North Korea and Iran follow. This orange demigod MUST be stopped by the awakening congress!!!
Good to see some bipartisan support for this bill but, like many incomplete articles, it would be nice to know what the bill actually does, alongside the generous platitudes supporting workers rights to organize and speak out. Maybe include an editor's note for incomplete articles like this. Thanks.
Trump continues to ignore the fact that his policies are causing a real financial burden for average Americans. It's beginning to look a lot like inflation.
White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, gave an interview to Vanity Fair, and it turned into one of those interviews with the administration has to assure us that they're standing behind her, which means it was a horrible interview. And if you think this administration is standing behind you, you've got another thing coming. Remember, Donald Trump demands loyalty, but gives none. Donald Trump will only stand behind you to stab you in the back.
Trump told the New York Post that Wiles has “done a fantastic job,” which means she's screwed.
When this administration began, they promised that they wouldn't have people who would offer resistance as they had in the first administration, such as Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and Chief of Staff John Kelly. Not that those people gave a lot of resistance to Trump, but they gave some, especially in his attempts to steal the 2020 election. So this time, Trump hired people like Susie Wiles, who is more of an observer than a White House chief of staff.
Politico described the interview as “jaw-dropping and wondered why she was allowed to even participate. One anonymous source close to the White House said the interview was “extremely demoralizing.” Another said, “So far … WTF.”
Wiles called the story a “disingenuously framed hit piece,” though it used her exact quotes.
In the interview, Wiles said that Trump has the personality of an alcoholic and that JD Vance is a conspiracy theorist. Both men took ownership of those descriptions, with Vance saying that he only believes “in the conspiracy theories that are true,” like Haitians eating cats and dogs in Springfield. I only believe in conspiracy theories that are true, as well, JD, like you being a dolphin porn searching couch fucker.
Wiles also admitted that the prosecution of Letitia James was political retribution and the strikes on boats from Venezuela are being done to force regime change, something the administration has denied.
Wiles said that Pam Bondi “whiffed” on her handling of the Epstein files, called Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Voughan a “right-wing absolute zealot,” and said Elon Musk was an “avowed ketamine” user. How does she have any friends left?
Spokesgoon Karoline Levitt said, “This is unfortunately another example of disingenuous reporting, where you have a reporter who took the chief of staff’s words widely out of context, did not include the context those conversations were had within, and further, I think the most egregious part of this article was the bias of omission, which was clearly present,” she told reporters. “Many people in this building spoke with that reporter, and those comments were never included in the story, probably because it didn’t push this narrative of chaos and confusion that the reporter was clearly trying to push.”
But you can't blame the media for the shit that comes out of your mouth.
Questioning the digital realm in which she grew up … Adele Zeynep Walton. (Composite: Guardian Design; MR.Cole_Photographer; J Studios)
“Across Europe, a generation is suffering through a silent crisis,” says a new report from People vs Big Tech – a coalition of more than 140 digital rights NGOs from around Europe – and Ctrl+Alt+Reclaim, their youth-led spin-off. A big factor is “the design and dominance of social media platforms”.
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Join us for a book talk with Jeremy Varon: Our Grief Is Not A Cry For War, in conversation with Carolyn "Rusti" Eisenberg
When: Wednesday, January 14, 6:30 PMWhere: Brooklyn Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)110 Schermerhorn St, Brooklyn, NY 11201 (2nd floor)
Co-Sponsors: Peace and Social Action Committee of the Brooklyn Monthly Meeting, NYC War Resisters League, World Can’t Wait, Veterans For Peace - NYC Chapter, Peace Action New York State
