After Donald Trump doubled down on blaming Rob Reiner’s tragic murder on his “incurable” case of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” the “Morning Joe” panel called out the president for lacking humanity at a time when everyone is showing the Hollywood legend compassion, no matter their political views.
“That’s how people with basic humanity respond,” co-host Joe Scarborough said on Tuesday during the MS NOW segment. At the time, the panel was discussing the number of conservative figures in politics and entertainment — including actor James Woods and Fox News’ Laura Ingraham — who have spoken out to denounce Trump’s words while praising Reiner’s character and legacy.
“Politics is here, family problems, especially something that ends in this tragedy, is over here, and there’s been universal damnation of really sad, disturbing response and reaction,” Scarborough continued. “It’s unthinkable … makes me sad. It also makes me very worried about who’s inside the White House, who not only said, ‘Yeah, you should put this out,’ but then they put it on the official White House account.”
Watch the clip below.
The pundits’ discussion came after Trump took to Truth Social early Monday to mock Reiner’s murder, stating he was killed because of his “massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind-crippling disease known as Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Trump’s remarks launched a swarm of bipartisan backlash. But even with pushback, he doubled down on his comments, saying he “wasn’t a fan of Rob Reiner at all” and calling him “very bad for our country.”
Scarborough shared that Trump is one of the few people to show no sympathy for Reiner.
“There are times we will say things with people we disagree,” Scarborough said. “We were at an event last night, there are people that attack us, that disagree with us and you see them and you talk to them … that’s just basic core humanity. It seems, in this case, everybody but the president of the United States seems to have that humanity and seems to be aching for the Reiners.”
Co-host Willie Geist slammed Trump saying that if anyone expresses anything “other than horror” regarding Reiner’s murder “that’s a moment of reflection for you.”
“That’s a moment for you to look in the mirror,” Geist said. “There’s depravity to that. There’s a deep, deep insecurity to that which is, ‘Oh my gosh, I cannot believe what I’m reading. But didn’t he say something mean about me once? I’m going to attack him hours after he was murdered allegedly by his own child.’ There’s a sickness, a deep, deep sickness there that was revealed in that post. And then when given a chance later in the day, the president doubled down on it.”
He agreed with Scarborough that when it comes to horrific deaths, politics and humanity should be treated separately. However, he admitted that he’s not surprised Trump wasn’t up for the task.
“I hate to say this that it’s not terribly surprising,” Geist said. “It’s shocking, no questions about it. But then, you go, ‘Well, this is kind of what he does when someone politically opposes him.’”
