Let’s just consider the depths to which Donald Trump has sunk with his abhorrent social media attack on Rob Reiner.
First, let’s think of the family that’s grieving after the murder of the Hollywood director and his wife, Michele.
They are trying to come to terms with the senseless, horrific killing of a loved one – allegedly at the hands of one of their sons – and they deserve respect, compassion and love.
So, what does the US President do within hours of the murders of two human beings? He takes to social media to make political capital out of their deaths, and denigrate the memory of a man who has enriched the world through his talent for film-making.
Without a scrap of evidence, Trump claims that their deaths were due to “the anger Reiner caused others through his massive, unyielding and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME”.
He describes Rob Reiner as “tortured and struggling” and accuses him of suffering from “obvious paranoia”, before using the attack to pour praise upon himself for bringing a supposed “golden age” to America.
Of all the hate and mistruths that come out of Donald Trump’s sick mouth on a daily basis, it is perhaps the most shockingly crass and insensitive statement of all.
A family is in mourning – devastated – but Trump doesn’t care. He shows not an ounce of empathy or understanding. Indeed, his first thought is to denounce someone simply because they have been a critic of everything he stands for.
It is called free speech, but Donald Trump – like all dictators – doesn’t believe in free speech. Free speech is only OK if you are telling him how great he is. In contrast, critics are automatically branded as unpatriotic; condemned as traitors for disagreeing.
Trump will always have yes men and women, massaging his monstrously-inflated ego. He will have the hard-core MAGA maniacs trying to defend the indefensible because they are as bad as he is.
But it is to be hoped that decent Americans – Republicans and Democrats – will wake up and see that Donald Trump is an arrogant, dangerous, inhuman individual with a frightening lack of judgement, who is bringing increasing levels of shame to their country.