Trump’s crude disdain for the slain filmmaker was undoubtedly rooted in the truth that Reiner so ably used his skills to assist dethrone him in 2020.
Rob Reiner attends the Human Rights Marketing campaign’s 2025 LA Dinner on the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles, March 22, 2025.
(Michael Tran / AFP by way of Getty Photos)
Within the fall of 2020, at some extent when Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden have been locked of their high-stakes competitors for the presidency of america, Wisconsin ranked as the last word battleground state. It had backed Democrats in presidential elections from 1988 to 2012, after which—by just 22,748 votes—supported Trump in 2016. If the Republican president might be crushed in Wisconsin in 2020, state Democratic Social gathering chair Ben Wikler argued, together with many others, there was a superb likelihood that the nationwide electoral stability could be tipped towards Biden.
Wikler pulled out all of the stops to attain this outcome, and he had assist from an sudden ally: filmmaker Rob Reiner. The Hollywood director turned a central determine in what Wikler remembers as “the most important state social gathering fundraiser, so far as I do know, in American historical past.” That occasion, a dramatic studying of the script from Reiner’s extremely regarded movie The Princess Bride, was streamed on-line, attracted 142,000 viewers, and stirred the vitality of grassroots activists at a essential stage in an finally profitable marketing campaign.
Reiner, who was famend for his work as a director, screenwriter, and actor, was discovered lifeless Sunday, alongside along with his spouse, Michele, within the couple’s Los Angeles house, after what police described as an apparent homicide.
Reiner was, after all, remembered for his outstanding accomplishments over six a long time in Hollywood. However he was additionally recalled as a lifelong progressive activist. After a long time of campaigning for liberal candidates and causes—significantly LGBTQ+ rights and entry to schooling—he had emerged lately as an outspoken and constant critic of Trump, describing the reality-TV star turned politician as an authoritarian who “needs to destroy the structure, go after his political enemies and switch America into an autocracy.” Whereas Reiner’s critique was nicely regarded by civil libertarians and historians of the American experiment, it drew the ire of Trump, who on Monday lashed out on the director—claiming that he had suffered from a “huge, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a thoughts crippling illness often called TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME.”
The president’s crude assault was decried not simply by Democrats but in addition by numerous Republicans. Trump’s self-absorbed evaluation of a genuinely beloved determine within the leisure business was offensive. However so too was the truth that the embattled president ignored Reiner’s decades-long historical past of advocating for the constitutional system of checks and balances and for democracy.
“I believe Rob Reiner felt, to his core, that the sunshine of democracy was the factor that made each different type of progress attainable. And he knew that it was in peril,” recalled Wikler on Monday. “He’d been concerned within the battle for democracy all through his life, however particularly since Trump got here in. That was the motivation for everybody he pulled into the Princess Bride occasion—a way that if all of us didn’t do all the pieces we may, then the sunshine may exit. We wanted to maintain it alive.”
Present Concern
Working with Reiner on the September 2020 occasion introduced collectively the non-public and political sides of Wikler’s life.
“The Princess Bride is my favourite film on this planet. It’s actually affected my life,” defined the now-former social gathering chair, who’s presently writing a much-anticipated ebook on his political experiences. “And I believe that what I beloved about that film, and about a lot of Rob Reiner’s work, and his life, is that it had such a soul. The humor and heat have been there, however his work additionally had depth. Each his work and the spirit that knowledgeable his activism can educate us all one thing about tips on how to reside a life.”
Reiner directed and produced The Princess Bride in 1987, with a solid that included actors Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Visitor, Wallace Shawn, Billy Crystal, Robin Wright, Carol Kane, and, within the scene-stealing position of Westley, Cary Elwes.
After Wikler and the Wisconsin Democrats pulled off a profitable summer season 2020 profit that reunited solid members of the politically engaged TV drama The West Wing, Elwes reached out to the social gathering chair by way of a mutual good friend. That connection led to a dialogue of whether or not a Princess Bride reunion is likely to be organized to help Wisconsin Democrats.
Reiner’s dedication was important. And, after all, he was all in. Wikler had met Reiner within the early 2000s, when the Wisconsinite worked with Al Franken, the comic and creator who would ultimately function Minnesota’s US senator. In 2020, the director of This Is Spinal Faucet (1984), Stand by Me (1986), When Harry Met Sally…. (1989), Distress (1990), A Few Good Males (1992), and The American President (1995), amongst different main movement photos, threw himself into the Wisconsin challenge—working with Wikler to tug collectively authentic solid members for a reside dramatic studying of the Princess Bride script.
“Rob Reiner’s genius for assembling individuals to do superb issues was on full show with the Princess Bride fundraiser,” stated Wikler. “He acquired all these actors from everywhere in the nation—a few of whom had no concept tips on how to use Zoom—to get in entrance of the cameras and to play their roles with each little bit of the vigor and vitality that they delivered to their authentic performances.”
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On September 13, 2020, Reiner joined the crew for a Zoom efficiency that was coated by The New York Occasions, Rolling Stone, and different media retailers as one of many main occasions of the marketing campaign season. The efficiency raised in extra of $4.25 million for the state social gathering. It additionally energized grassroots activists who, in November of that 12 months, narrowly delivered the state and—with wins in different battlegrounds—the presidency to Biden.
For his half, Reiner remained politically engaged, particularly after Trump returned to the White Home this 12 months.
“I truly had a pair calls with him over the past month. He was dreaming up an enormous get-out-the-vote operation for the 2026 midterm elections,” Wikler stated Monday. “Rob Reiner had critical politics. He was tuned into the main points, in addition to the large image. He wasn’t simply pontificating or writing a test. He was fascinated by what he and his group may do to make an actual distinction in individuals’s lives.”
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