Michael Wolff said on his Inside Trump’s Head podcast that unnamed White House aides are increasingly concerned after President Trump mocked the deaths of director Rob Reiner and his wife on Truth Social. Co-host Joanna Coles said Trump has "fallen off the line," and Wolff called the post "self-destructive." Prosecutors say 32-year-old Nick Reiner will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents. The incident has intensified scrutiny of the president's cognitive and physical fitness.
Wolff: White House Aides Worried About Trump’s Mental State After Mocking Rob Reiner
Rob Reiner, 78, and his wife, Michele Singer, 68, were found dead in their Los Angeles home on Sunday. Reiner’s troubled son, Nick Reiner, 32, is suspected of killing his parents. / Rodin Eckenroth / Rodin Eckenroth/WireImage
Author Michael Wolff told listeners on his Inside Trump’s Head podcast that people inside the White House are increasingly uneasy after President Donald Trump posted a mocking comment about the killing of director Rob Reiner and his wife.
Trump, 79, drew widespread condemnation when he suggested on Truth Social that Reiner, 78, and his 68-year-old wife died because of an "affliction" he calls "Trump Derangement Syndrome." Wolff said an unnamed White House source described the post as alarming and suggested the president "walks a thin line." According to Wolff, the source asked: "Is he teetering?" and left the question unfinished.
"I don't know what that was, but it wasn't good. Everybody knows it's a thin line he walks. Is he teetering? Well..." — Unnamed White House Source (as quoted by Michael Wolff)
Co-host Joanna Coles responded on the podcast that she would not say Trump was merely "teetering" but rather that he had "fallen off the line." Wolff added that the comment was more than objectionable: it was a signal of an "alarming personal situation" for whoever would publicly make such remarks.
President Donald Trump posted about Reiner's death on his Truth Social account, calling Reiner a
Wolff argued the president's post would be "devastating" politically because Reiner was "a beloved American" and because public grief is widely understood. He called the timing and tone "self-destructive," saying that inserting himself into the tragedy hours after the deaths created "a hundred percent of ill will."
In his Truth Social post, Trump described Reiner as "tortured and struggling" and blamed the deaths on the director's alleged "anger" toward others, tied to what Trump and his supporters call "Trump Derangement Syndrome," a phrase used to dismiss critics as irrational. Trump later reaffirmed his remarks when questioned in the Oval Office.
Authorities say Rob Reiner and his wife were killed and that their 32-year-old son, Nick Reiner, is accused of the murders. Prosecutors announced he will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
Nick Reiner struggled with drug addiction and mental health issues since he was a teenager. / Rommel Demano/Getty Images
Coles compared the president's remarks to the kind of offensive mutterings people sometimes hear from an elderly relative who has "fallen off the line," noting the alarm in seeing that behavior from the nation's president. Coles and Wolff also pointed to recent reports of Trump dozing during official meetings as additional context that has intensified public scrutiny of his cognitive and physical fitness.
Wolff distinguished between dozing in meetings — "not a good look" — and what he views as the far more damaging behavior of publicly attacking a grieving family. "The merciless disparagement of Reiner was entirely unnecessary and self-destructive," he said.
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung previously criticized Wolff, calling him a fabricator and attacking his credibility. The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
Context: The episode has renewed debate about presidential temperament and the boundaries of public commentary by elected leaders. The legal case against Nick Reiner is ongoing; charges were announced by prosecutors.
