Leadership and Character

Journalist Maria Shriver says what more and more people are thinking - that President Donald Trump's behavior reveals a man unfit for the office he holds, this brief op-ed notes. (Credit: Gage Skidmore, Flickr) The number of people reaching their limits with President Donald Trump continues to grow. Following the recent, sudden death of Rob Reiner – an American film director and performer who was admired for works like rom-com classic “When Harry Met Sally," coming-of-age drama “Stand By Me” and political dramedy / seeming fantasy "The American President" – Trump took it upon himself to comment on the matter. “Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, 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,” he posted. (One might wonder where the calls for decency offered following conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death had suddenly disappeared to – if you didn’t know the man, that is.) The post drew much commentary – including those who usually steer clear of such matters, such as journalist Maria Shriver. The former first lady of California and member of the Kennedy family is normally reserved in her commentary on U.S. goings on – but even she took to social media to issue a reply, speaking out on the first night of Hanukkah to note the duality of holding mass celebration, and mass grief. “The entire world is hurting,” she said in the wake of the combined tragedies of the Bondi Beach shooting in Australia, the school shooting at Brown University, and the murder of Reiner and his wife, Michele, at the hands of their own son. “And yet we have a president who does not use this opportunity to bring anybody together. Instead uses it to speak about himself – instead uses it in such a petty, divisive way.” Shriver continued: “The president of the United States is supposed to have character, is supposed to know how to bring people together, is supposed to be a dignified human being who raises us up. And instead, we have somebody talking like he does. It makes me sick to my stomach.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Maria Shriver (@mariashriver) Other prominent, established women offered similarly considered, similarly cutting thoughts on Trump’s latest tirade. On X, author Joyce Carole Oates opined that it is both strange and “contrary to expectations, that our most literate presidents lived in the 18th century; our most recently elected 21st century president is barely literate, with the vocabulary of a three-year-old & the atrophied prefrontal cortex of a nasty person who has outlived his time.” It’s the sort of public pushback that the Reiners themselves would certainly have prized. While living, the power couple often worked and spoke out in defense of others often harmed by the policies of the Trump administration. They were particularly vocal in their support of equal rights for the LGBTQ community. “It’s so heartening to think young people don’t think twice about gay marriage,” Rob Reiner wrote in a 2015 essay for Variety, of his hope and vision for a more equitable future. “And I think it’s going to be the same with the transgender community. It’s going to get closer and closer to the ideal that we are all one.” But the Reiners’ lives, as impactful and prolific as they were, were cut short before they could see that come to pass. As were the lives of those caught in the firestorms at Bondi Beach and Brown University. And in response to all of this… Trump opted to crack wise about Rob Reiner as political opposition. As Shriver noted: “We deserve so much better.” ◼️

Leadership and Character

Maria Shriver: ‘We Deserve So Much Better’ Than Trump’s Antics

The Story Exchange

Follow