Jimmy Kimmel was in disbelief when he first saw President Trump’s reaction to the murder of beloved director, comedian, and actor Rob Reiner.
Reiner, 78, was murdered on Sunday alongside his wife Michelle, 68. Authorities believe Reiner’s son Nick, 32, was responsible for their deaths, and currently have him in custody.
President Trump responded to the tragedy in a Truth Social post on Monday, writing that Reiner’s death was “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.”
“When I first saw it, I thought it was fake,” Kimmel confessed in his Monday monologue.
“My wife showed it to me this morning,” he explained. “I was like, ‘Well, even for him, that seemed like too much.’ But nothing is ever too much for him.”
Kimmel read Trump’s post aloud to his audience, who booed it vehemently.
“Just when you think he can’t go any lower, he somehow finds a way to do that,” Kimmel said.
“[Trump’s] description of what happened, of course, is not at all what happened,” Kimmel added. “And this is exactly what I’ve spoken about before, this rush to pin the tail on the donkey in pursuit of the Trump-friendly narrative.”
Kimmel was referring to his comments about the MAGA reaction to Charlie Kirk’s death in September, which nearly led to his show getting canceled.
Kimmel had criticized MAGA pundits for “desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”
The host argued that Trump was doing something similar to what Trump supporters accused him of doing four months earlier.
“Blaming [Reiner’s] death on the fact that he is an outspoken liberal, insulting someone who’s just been murdered, who leaves children behind, without having any idea of what actually happened,” Kimmel said. “It’s so hateful and vile.”
“Of course, you won’t see the Fox News gang screaming about this one,” Kimmel added, “But a couple of Republicans did, to their credit. Two of them, I think.”
Kimmel also showed a press conference clip from Monday evening in which Trump doubled down on his Truth Social post, telling reporters, “Well, I wasn’t a fan of [Reiner] at all. He was a deranged person as far as Trump is concerned.”
“That corroded brain is in charge of our lives,” Kimmel said. He added to viewers at home, “If you voted for that, it’s OK to reconsider.”
Kimmel ended the segment by saying about Reiner, “I know that he would want us to keep pointing out the loathsome atrocities that continue to ooze out of this sick and irresponsible man’s mouth.”
“And so we’re going to do that over and over again,” Kimmel said, “until the rest of us wake up.”
