“Police found Rob Reiner, 78, the director of beloved movies like ‘When Harry Met Sally…’ and his wife Michele, 70, dead at their home in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon… [Their son] has been arrested and charged with the murder of his parents… Nick Reiner, 32, who had struggled with substance abuse, was arrested on Sunday night and is being held in jail with no bail.” Reuters

‍“President Donald Trump mocked Rob Reiner in a social media post on Monday, suggesting the slain actor and director died because of his anti-Trump views… In a post on Truth Social, Trump referred to Rob Reiner as ‘tortured and struggling’ and said Reiner and his wife had passed away ‘reportedly due to the anger he caused’ by opposing the Republican president. ‘He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump,’ the president said.” Reuters

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Both sides praise Reiner’s career and criticize President Trump’s remarks:

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‍“Let’s all pay tribute to Rob Reiner’s rare gift for popular moviemaking, especially notable in a rocky era for American cinema, by watching [the] early classics in tribute. It’ll be a holiday gift to ourselves. But let’s also remember Reiner’s fundamental human decency — a warmth that radiated out from not only his performances, his interviews, and his activism but also his films themselves… Rob Reiner made popular entertainment that brought out the best in us.”

‍Eileen Jones, Jacobin Magazine

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‍“It is particularly ironic that Reiner met such a horrible end, stabbed to death in his own home, because the vast majority of the films that he made, especially earlier in his career, were infused with a sense of all-American joyfulness and hope that made him, for a while, a filmmaker talked off in the same breath as Frank Capra and Steven Spielberg…

“[His] first seven films as a director represent one of the most interesting and accomplished runs of form that any 20th-century filmmaker ever managed. He excelled at romantic comedies, which included the John Cusack vehicle The Sure Thing and, of course, the peerless When Harry Met Sally, but his varied repertoire included everything from Stephen King horror (Misery) and swashbuckling meta-comedy (The Princess Bride) to all-American military courtroom drama (A Few Good Men).”

‍Alexander Larman, Spectator World

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‍“Reiner not only made me laugh repeatedly throughout my youth, he was a part of it: I grew up with Rob Reiner’s movies, in a very personal way, and I don’t think I’m the only one… Each of the films he made from 1984-1990 had (and retains) some personal meaning to me, and they are fused together in my mind now with my own budding identity then…

“What he gave the world of entertainment speaks for itself: a series of films we treasure to this day. But what he gave to me was nothing less than the movie memories that became fond building blocks of my own childhood and identity. That’s an epitaph any would envy. R.I.P.”

‍Jeffrey Blehar, National Review

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‍“Reiner was a star on many fronts. He was a comedy pioneer, writing with Steve Martin for the Smothers Brothers in the 1960s. He played a pivotal role in one of the most revolutionary television shows in the medium, All in the Family. He was one of the most successful directors in the history of Hollywood (This Is Spinal Tap, The Princess Bride, Stand By Me, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, and many more)… His production company gave us The Shawshank Redemption and Seinfeld…

“And Reiner was much more than your average LA liberal. He did the heavy lifting of leading campaigns—one overturned a ban on same-sex marriage in California, another created a program of early childhood development services in the state funded by a tax on tobacco products… For decades, Rob sought to entertain and enlighten us with his television and film work and to improve the world with his activism. He fervently battled Trumpism, and with his death the resistance loses a smart and fierce voice. This loss is incalculable.”

‍David Corn, Mother Jones

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‍“Many Americans have come to expect the president to be petulant and self-centered. We’ve become inured to his wild social media ramblings. Yet he still finds ways to shock us on occasion; his statement on Reiner is exceptionally beneath the office he holds. Rob Reiner was not a political figure. He was merely an outspoken supporter of liberal causes, which of course was his right…

“After a horrific weekend that included a lethal shooting at Brown University, the killing of three Americans by ISIS in Syria, and the slaughter of 16 people celebrating Hanukkah on a beach in Australia, the leader of the free world should be looking to unite Americans and condemn bigotry and violence wherever they take place in the world. Instead, he is kicking the corpse of someone who made movies that brought Americans together.”

‍The Editors, Free Press

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‍“Trump has never shined in moments that call for dignity and restraint. Yesterday, discussing the mass shooting at Brown University on Saturday, the president seemed cold: ‘Things can happen,’ he said. Empathy does not come naturally to him, even when it would be politically beneficial. Visiting Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria during his first term, Trump gave us the indelible image of tossing paper-towel rolls to beleaguered survivors…

“Absent these presidents’ genuine ability and instinct to inspire unity, a leader can fake it, offering at least a boilerplate statement. If nothing else, they can just keep quiet. But not Trump. He finds the most divisive way to insert himself… His choices deny the country a chance to mourn, and they take moments that could be unifying—surely Americans of all political views can agree on the greatness of When Harry Met Sally and The Princess Bride—and turn them into opportunities for anger. Which is, in effect, Trump’s political project.”

‍David A. Graham, The Atlantic