President Donald Trump's widely condemned reaction to Rob Reiner's murder made clear he wishes his enemies dead, but a columnist argued that his own Republicans allies are biding their time until his demise.
The president responded to the slaying of the beloved director and his wife Michele Singer Reiner "with an ugliness that’s shocking," even by his own rock-bottom standards, wrote Salon's Amanda Marcotte, and only a few hardcore MAGA loyalists defended or justified his ugly insinuations.
"Although the Los Angeles Police Department had arrested the couple’s son for the apparent homicide, Trump insinuated on Truth Social that it was one of his own followers who killed the Reiners out of revenge for their anti-Trump activism," Marcotte wrote. "He doubled down when asked about it by reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. The message was hard to miss: If you oppose Trump, he wishes you dead."
That dynamic has long been on full display – from bomb threats against prominent Democrats through Jan. 6 to death threats against Indiana Republicans who defied his redistricting scheme – but the failure of that scheme in Indiana, along with the House vote to release the Epstein files against his wishes and the widespread criticism of his Reiner remarks, shows signs of a shift.
"These are promising signs, but it’s not worth holding your breath waiting for GOP politicians to openly turn on a president who demands absolute loyalty," Marcotte wrote. "Instead of public rebellion, most Republicans seem to be engaged in a form of quiet quitting. They won’t go out of their way to resist Trump, but they are losing enthusiasm for defending him. They’re struggling to hide their frustration or their scheming for a post-Trump world. Overall, the posture is one of lying low, waiting for the old man to be gone so they can begin the project of rebuilding the GOP and their own careers in a post-Trump era."
"Trump’s own hand-picked officials are losing patience and increasingly venting in spaces they hope, rightly or wrongly, where it won’t get back to their mercurial boss," she added.
White House chief of staff Susie Wiles is the latest example, with her shockingly candid interviews with Vanity Fair's Chris Whipple trashing Trump as having "an alcoholic’s personality” and disclosing that he keeps demanding political prosecutions of his opponents, and Marcotte said her candor was revealing in other ways.
"On one hand, Republicans want to plan for a post-Trump future, especially since they don’t know if that will start three years or three days from now," Marcotte wrote. "That means trying to signal to political insiders that they aren’t down with Trump’s delusions — that they are instead sane people who are acceptable to hire for plum positions when the old man is gone. This accounts for the interviews in which they position themselves as sane people, unlike their boss."
Although he's obviously declining in health – with mysterious hand bruises, public fatigue and unusual MRI tests – Trump is still around, even as his underlings seemingly jockey for position for his ultimate expiration.
"Even in his increasingly addled state, sometimes news that his people are talking smack gets back to him — especially since there are other power players in the White House who might enjoy showing such stories to Trump, if it means gaining favor while taking their competitors down a notch," Marcotte wrote.
"But it also resembles the way family members of an abusive narcissist tip-toe around him," she added, "trying to avoid drawing his ire while waiting for him to either leave or die."