In a new article State of the Nation has presented the theory that Rob Reiner may have been taken out (assassinated himself) because of his research on the death of JFK, which he was going to publish in a forthcoming book. According to the author, Rob had “three strikes against him”, which may have contributed to his death:

As you will see, Rob “Meathead” Reiner had five HUGE strikes against him as 2025 evolved to its bitter end.

First, Rob made the most egregious mistake this year of taking the assassination of President John F. Kennedy to a whole new level in the public domain. See: Rob Reiner was assassinated right after a major book contract was signed following a HUGELY successful podcast about JFK assassination truth.

Secondly, ultra-liberal Rob Reiner took an unexpected position of great sympathy toward the brutal assassination of Charlie Kirk. See: Rob Reiner said he felt ‘absolute horror’ watching Charlie Kirk’s assassination in one of his final interviews

Prior to leaving the Khazarian reservation via those two little endeavors, Rob had previously bashed — HARD — the Neocon Zionist imperial project known as the Iraq War. See: How Rob Reiner’s political activism led to “Shock and Awe”, his devastating film about the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Problems with this argument include (1) everyone knows the invasion of Iraq was opportunistic and unwarranted, so there’s nothing new here to threaten his life; (2) contrary to popular opinion, Charlie was not assassinated but faked his death (probably to escape a real assassination); and (3) his research on JFK was amateurish and wrong..

So what did Rob Reiner claim about 22 November 1963? That it was a Mafia hit job, which was the thesis of the House Select Committee on Assassinations when it published its FINAL REPORT (1979), claiming “a probable conspiracy” on the basis of audio tape analysis suggesting there had been a second shooter on the grassy knoll. In his latest book, David W. Mantik, M.D., Ph.D., JFK Was Killed by Consensus (2025), has summarizes Rob’s theory of four (4) Mafia shooters:

Even on the supposition that Rob had the shooters right, what about this should be regarded as especially controversial enough to have him whacked–especially by Mossad? The expertise of Mossad–which I admire for its competence and professionalism–wouid have welcomed these conclusions, because they imply that it was basically A MAFIA HIT, as the HSCA had declared, and not AN ISRAELI HIT. So why would Mossad have wanted to take Rob out? He was on their side!

No doubt some may wonder who am I to raise doubts about JFK research. Well, I have championed collaborative research on JFK by bringing together the best qualified experts to ever study the case–including a world authority on the human brain (who was also an expert on wound ballistics), a Ph.D. in physics who is also an M.D. and board-certified in radiation oncology (the treatment of cancer using X-ray therapy), the last physician to observe his body at Parkland (where he closed JFK’s eyes as he was wrapped in sheets and placed in the bronze ceremonial casket at Parkland), a legendary JFK photo and film expert, and another Ph.D. in physics (with electro-magnetism as his area of specialization), who has done brilliant work exposing the Zapruder film as a fabrication based upon features internal to the film itself) — and publishing three edited volumes that shattered the cover up and left scant room for doubt as to those responsible for his death.

Assassination Science (1998), Murder in Dealey Plaza (2000), and The Great Zapruder Film Hoax (2003) include chapters by the best experts to ever study the case, including Bob Livingston, M.D., David W. Mantik, M.D., Ph.D., David Lifton, John P. Costella, Ph.D., Doug Horne, Jack White, Charles Crenshaw, M.D., Bradley Kizzia, J.D., Doug Weldon, J.D., Gary Aguilar, M.D., Vince Palamara, and perhaps less well-known students Mary Spearing, Mike Pincher, Roy Scheffer, Ronald F. White, Rich DellaRosa, and Ira David Wood. I have had direct personal conversations with Bethesda medical technicians, LBJ’s mistress and mother of his son, Steven, and (even) James Files, whom (with his wife, Pamela) I treated to dinner at my favorite Longhorn Steakhouse in Madison and had a fabulous conversation, where he impressed upon me (twice) that, once the government stakes out a position (on JFK, 9/11, and such), it’s stuck with it and will never change — which of course means that we are not dealing with a rational or scientific entity here but one where politics overrides facts and evidence.

So maybe I know what I’m talking about when I explain that I have adopted the alternative approach of identifying each of the eight (8) shooters who were in Dealey Plaza, where George H.W. Bush and Edward Landsdale were supervising the mechanics and determining the sequence of shots. I have identified seven (7) of them by name, rank, and serial number, the shots they took and their effects. My first was Harry Weatherford, Dallas Deputy Sheriff, who fired the shot that hit JFK in the back (5.5 inches below the shoulder and just to the right of the spinal column, a shallow shot that was designed to implant a Mannlicher-Carcano bullet to implicate Lee Oswald as the shooter); Jack Lawrence, who was a Air Force expert using a collapsible rifle given to him by Curtis LeMay, Chief of the Air Force, to reassure him he was acting in the best interests of the United States, who fired the shot that passed through the windshield and hit JFK in the throat (and may have actually killed him); Frank Sturgis, the Mafia shooter, who fired the shot that hit JFK in the right temple (from an above ground sewer opening at the intersection of the Triple Underpass and the picket fence), where it dawned on me that this had been parallel to “Murder on the Orient Express” and involved a high-level consensus where each of the sponsors put up their own shooter to insure they would be permanently committed to concealing the truth from the American people:

Those who have lost their integrity over their work on JFK, sad to say, now include Oliver Stone and Jim DiEugenio, whose “JFK Revisited (2021)” was a sham production that focused on “the magic bullet theory” but omitted the most powerful proof, which is David Mantik’s demonstration that it’s not even anatomically possible,

That’s proof DiEugenio and Stone have sold out on JFK. Mantik was featured in “JFK Revisited (2021)”, but even though the film runs 1:58, they could not find time to include the single most definitive refutation of the “magic bullet theory”! And, in anticipation that he might be releasing something of value, I sent Oliver Stone my own updated research on JFK, “Real Deal JFK SPECIAL (18 November 2021)”, which I dedicated to him. He, alas, has even betrayed the JFK community before Congress. The comparison is pitiful.

Moreover, as though to wipe me from consideration for sourcing the sequel to “JFK”, DiEugenio did a hit piece on me that is perhaps the most scurrilous and deceptive attack of all time–and there have been plenty!–to which I’ve ever been subjected. It’s easy to lie and can be challenging and complicated to unpack those lies, where it took me 7 hours to refute his baseless allegations! He even attacks my research on Sandy Hook and the Wellstone assassination, about which he knows next to nothing.

So, NO. Meathead did not solve the world’s greatest murder mystery–and there’s no good reason to think this was simply a Mafia hit. They were involved, but the plot was far more complex. For more on how we know James Files did not fire the shot as he claims — but appears to be playing the role of the 2nd gunman on the grassy knoll following the HSCA script — see Larry Rivera, The JFK Horsemen (2024) and Jim Fetzer, JFK: Who, How, and Why (2017). Meanwhile, watch our presentations at FF&CC 2025 and you will have a better idea of what actually transpired in Dallas on that tragic and fateful day.

Jim Fetzer, Ph.D., a former Marine Corps officer, is McKnight Professor Emeritus on the Duluth Campus of the University of Minnesota.