Leadership Isn’t Name-Calling: Why Trump Failed the Reiner Family
Rob and Michele Reiner
It has been a few weeks since the tragic death of Rob and Michele Reiner. I wanted to think deeply before speaking about this loss. I was about 12 years old when I first experienced Rob Reiner. He premiered in the very first episode in 1971 of “All in the Family”. His character’s name was “Meathead” but official character name was “Michael Stevik”.
You cannot talk about or reflect on his character without knowing just a few things about “All in the Family”. The main theme of this new and bold series about a working class family, whose main character “Archie Bunker” played by Carrol O’Conner, was addressing tough social issues, but used humor to build it’s faithful audience. The topics were tough like race, politics, gender roles and social tension of that era.
Rob’s role for the time was often viewed as liberal and the counter argument to Archie. Meathead’s counter arguments were often tough to hear but exactly what we needed for this time period. Norman Lear, the producer and creator, was bold and found a way to address this subject that we as a society had never experienced before. I felt that his unique portrayal, through many stereo-types, was the key to address and getting us to think about bigotry and racism. This again was genius.
For me today, mostly conservative in politics, antithetical to Rob’s political beliefs, doesn’t change his contributions for TV, movies and especially his directing of some of the most popular movies of all time. “When Harry met Sally”, “The Princess Bride”, “Stand by Me”, “A Few Good Men” and “Misery” are just to name a few. Most of these movies, I have seen many times, over and over, due to the subject matter, the quality of his direction and especially the comedy in “The Princess Bride”. Rob, I thank you for those contributions!
My heart goes out to his family and close friends who knew him personally. His son, Nick, has been accused and arrested for both of his mother and father’s murder. I cannot imagine that his siblings, Jake and Romy, not only lost their mother and father, but they have lost a brother. If he is found guilty of this violent act, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Cast of All in the Family with Rob Reiner
President Trump, your response to this tragedy was not becoming as a President of the United States, but more importantly as a simple human being.
I remember when you were shot in an assassination attempt. Many people expressed that they wished the bullet that was fired would have ended your life due to opposing views of your politics. People literally celebrated when Charlie Kirk was assassinated and said he deserved it. By reaching out to show grace and sympathy to Rob's family, even though you have different views on political issues, would have set a good example to those who didn’t during the tough times that your family faced. Yes, he vehemently disagreed with you. Yes, even called you names. But you have called people names and disrespected them.
I think that you should have risen above the petty name calling. Rob had the right to disagree with you and express his 1st Amendment Rights, as we all should be able to do on a daily basis. What makes it even worse is this was a family tragedy and had nothing to do with politics or religion. You express that God allowed you to live that day in Pennsylvania because he had a bigger plan for you. I promise you, how you responded to the Reiner family tragedy is not part of that plan.
There, I said it.
-Felix
