No Such Thing as Worst

The off-the-rails rants of a jealous demagogue diminish all of us

Rob Reiner on the set of “The Princess Bride” [Photo Credit: 20th Century FOX]

Congratulations, Donald. Once again, you have gone out of your way to prove, to anyone who doesn’t already know, that you are a depraved, deviant, damaged little man who cannot bear the thought that there are people in this world who are talented, valued, and loved—three things you are not. You cannot stomach the thought that anybody else, for any reason, would take the spotlight. And who are you without that? The most fitting punishment for you would be a mirrorless room without access to the internet or sycophants who continue to believe or pretend to believe that anything you do or say matters. You are beyond redemption.

In the wake of the horrific murders of the universally beloved Rob and Michele Reiner, Donald chose to prop himself up by demeaning them. The weapon of the truly weak and pathetic, Donald proves once and for all that he is capable of the lowest low. There is no worst, there is only worse. Donald’s reaction to this tragedy was simply more of the same.

The qualities that Rob and Michele Reiner embodied—their creativity, artistry, empathy, compassion, kindness, generosity, their understanding of the human condition, their true desire to make the world a better place—are beyond Donald. These are attributes that he could never embody. Instead, he chooses pettiness, jealousy, and cruelty. He proved that definitively when he posted this this morning:

A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, passed away together with his wife, Michelle, 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. He was known to have driven people crazy by his raging obsession with Donald, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump administration surpassed all goals and with the golden age of America upon us, et cetera.

He wrote this before we knew anything beyond the fact that Rob and Michele Reiner had been found dead in their home. Who responds this way? Only the thirstiest, weakest, and most depraved of men. Because Donald is irredeemably himself, he did not retract this statement; he didn’t apologize or write something decent and appropriate. In fact, he doubled down. This is what he had to say in the Oval Office this afternoon.

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

Seventy-eight million people decided to give a corrupt, depraved, and sick human being almost unlimited power; the kind of deranged person who makes things worse for a family suffering an unimaginable and horrific loss. I wish we could ignore Donald, but we can’t. But we must also focus our attention on the people who continue to enable, empower, and embolden him, like JD Vance, Stephen Miller, and every Republican in Congress, all of whom are complicit in the atrocities committed on a daily basis by Donald and the Trump regime.

Michele and Rob Reiner [Photo Credit: The Guardian]

There are many, many people in this country for whom there seems to be no line. They love how cruel Donald is to immigrants; they love that he keeps attacking trans people; they love that he indiscriminately blows people up in the Caribbean Sea, so they put up with his petty vindictiveness, his obscene attacks on private citizens, and his inhumane cruelties.

It’s time that we start interrogating these people. Why are they ok with Donald’s depravities, corruption, and grifting? Why do they stand by, for example, while Robert Kennedy is allowed to withhold safe and effective vaccines, endangering our children’s lives?

Donald and his cohorts are increasingly lawless, but none of this is new. We’ve been dealing with horrors unleashed by Donald and his enablers and supporters for a decade now. Donald behaves the way he does because he is allowed to. And his behavior is an act of desperation to counter his understanding that he is nothing compared to Rob and Michele Reiner. They were kind, decent, and generous artists who understood what matters. They fought for the rights of all people. They were the best of what this country represents. Donald, on the other hand, is the worst of us, a man who has nothing to offer but misery, pain, and suffering.