Steady

In every reporter’s career, there are moments they remember vividly. That’s especially true for interviews where we learn something truly profound or unexpected. For me, Rob Reiner was one of those interviews.

He was thoughtful, and, unlike some in Hollywood, warm and engaging. He was also passionate — about his films and his country. His ability to explain the American experience on screen was second to none. What a resume, from “When Harry Met Sally” to “A Few Good Men” and all the great films in between.

Perhaps that’s why his death is felt so deeply. Trying to wrap your mind around the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, feels practically impossible. It was horrific, senseless, and tragic.

Reiner was such a relatable everyman, someone who genuinely wanted to make people’s lives better whether through his indelible films or his political activism.

In the spring of 2019, I had the honor of interviewing Rob Reiner alongside his legendary father, actor and comedian, Carl Reiner.

We talked about show business, comedy, and growing up in Hollywood. Eventually, the conversation turned to politics. Neither was shy about their strongly held beliefs, but Rob made his political activism as much a part of himself as his filmmaking.

Donald Trump’s first run for office turned him into a social media-savvy liberal activist. “I only started tweeting during the 2016 campaign because I was appalled that this man could conceivably be president,” he told me.

Then, of course, Trump did become president. So I followed up. “What is it that worries you the most about Donald Trump? And do you really think that you can convince at least some of the people who follow him and believe in him to understand things from your point of view or is it hopeless?” I asked.

“I don’t know that that core group of Trump supporters can ever be convinced. It’s almost like a cult where they will believe anything that this man does…. I’m not saying that his followers are going to drink Kool-Aid. They’re not, obviously. But they’re not going to wind up in a good place because he is about taking the country to an authoritarian place.”

He went on to predict exactly where we have ended up, six years later.

“I’ve been saying this for a long time. We’re a democracy. 242 years. The greatest, longest living democracy on the planet, but there’s no guarantee that we’re going to survive because the sweet spot of any great civilization is 250 to 300 years. We have to fight for it. We have to fight to realize what the Founding Fathers expected from us. And they were flawed. But we’ve got to keep fighting. And right now, we’re in a fight…. Right now, at this point in time, there’s a flex point. We’re going to look back and say, did you stand up for what America was about and what America could be, or did you stand up for something that’s racist and authoritarian?”

Reiner was speaking in no uncertain terms about the president, who has never heeded the adage, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all.” In fact, he goes out of his way to say the most hurtful, inappropriate things possible. Like any narcissistic bully, he gains power, at least in his own mind, by diminishing others. And that in turn becomes red meat for his supporters.

Not that anyone needs a case in point, but we got one last Monday in reaction to the Reiners’ deaths. The president posted this revolting diatribe on social media:

“Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away … 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.”

Trump has never been a second-guesser, just a double-downer, which he did at a subsequent press availability. When asked about the vile post he said, “Well, I wasn’t a fan of his at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned,” , referring to himself in the third person. “I thought he was very bad for our country.”

Normally — at least normally in the time of Trump — this kind of vitriol would spark outrage just among Democrats and Reiner’s Hollywood friends and then it would get swept under the rug along with all the other its-just-Donald-being-Donald excuses. But things are shifting. The initial cracks in the MAGA bulwark are becoming fissures.

In a recent Vanity Fair profile of White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, she explained Trump’s modus operandi. He “operates [with] a view that there’s nothing he can’t do. Nothing, zero, nothing.”

That worldview may need some updating. Trump is more politically vulnerable today than he has been during either presidency. His party’s widespread election losses in November, which are really his losses, marked the start of the spiral.

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Republicans in Congress, who are counted on to do Trump’s bidding and keep their opinions to themselves, are no longer as willing to stay quiet. Trump’s Reiner rant proved a tipping point. Dozens admonished him for being “inappropriate,” adding that he “should be condemned.”

“This statement is wrong. Regardless of one’s political views, no one should be subjected to violence, let alone at the hands of their own son. It’s a horrible tragedy that should engender sympathy and compassion from everyone in our country, period,” posted GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York.

Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie wagged his finger at the president and his party on social media. “I guess my elected GOP colleagues, the VP, and White House staff will just ignore it because they’re afraid? I challenge anyone to defend it.”

As my 2019 interview with the Reiners came to a close, I asked one last question:, “The end comes to all of us sooner or later. I hope it’ll be a long time for each of the three of us. When it’s over, what would you like most for people to say about you and your life after you’re gone?”

Carl, who passed in 2020, wanted to be remembered as someone who treated people fairly. For Rob, it was a little more involved.

“I hope I didn’t take up space, that I hope I was able to contribute something. The greatest pleasure I get is twofold. One, is people come up and say you give me so much pleasure with the films. Somehow, I did something that made their life somehow a little better. The other thing is I was the first guy to start with marriage equality and have the first federal lawsuit. So, a gay couple will come up and say, ‘Thank you so much. Uh, because of that, you, I can get married.’ And so, those things make you feel good because you say, ‘Okay, I didn’t take up space.’”

I would amend that. Rob Reiner did take up space, the good kind.

If you like to watch the whole interview with Rob and Carl Reiner, click here.

No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading.

Stay Steady,Dan