Stephen A. Smith warns Donald Trump’s Rob Reiner comments will cost Republicans

The indefensible response by Donald Trump to the murders of Rob Reiner and his wife Michele Singer Reiner has garnered significant pushback from many, including Stephen A. Smith.

Reiner and his wife were found dead in their Los Angeles home with stab wounds Sunday. Their son Nick Reiner has since been arrested on suspicion of homicide. But less than 24 hours after the tragic murders, the president of the United States falsely claimed Reiner died “due to the anger he caused others” while accusing the Hollywood director of suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”

“He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “With his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace!”

Trump has been widely condemned for the gross accusation and lack of empathy by those on the right and left, with Stephen A. Smith claiming this side of the president will eventually be detrimental to Republicans.

My response to Trump’s post following Rob Reiner and his wife’ death.

Full video: https://t.co/1NHKnhk5y6 pic.twitter.com/u4sprJyC6k

— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) December 15, 2025

“It’s stuff like this that’s gonna end up costing the GOP. And I want to state that it’s not because of them. Because plenty of them have come out and spoken out against the president,” Smith said on Straight Shooter. “But it’s disgusting rhetoric like this, there’s no place for it.”

“I’m talking about prioritizing a core level of decency. When somebody gets killed, somebody gets murdered, that ain’t the time to be sticking out your chest and basically indicating they bought it on themselves because of whatever, when there should never be any place for violence,” Smith continued. “And you would think that our commander-in-chief, the President of the USA, would know this better than anybody, but evidently, this man does not.”

Smith explained he would love to just judge Trump on his politics and debate the positives and negatives of his policies, but the 79-year-old president makes it impossible to do that.

“It’s stuff like this where all of that gets shoved aside because the classlessness, the juvenile tendencies, the lack of statesmanship, the trifling ass tendencies that he exercises and puts on display time and time again knows no limits,” Smith said.

Democrats and Republicans have agreed that Trump’s post about Rob Reiner was disgraceful and immoral, but they should not have been surprised by it. Donald Trump has repeatedly proven himself to be a person who is immature, irrational and vindictive, and putting him in the White House has only escalated those traits.