The Washington Post used its headline about the death of President Donald Trump’s brother Robert to knock the president, in yet another example of the outlet declaring its bias in headlines before changing them.
Sometimes, the article doesn’t line up with the headline, but in this case, the “obituary” for Robert Trump from the Post also consisted of gossip and attacks aimed at the president, including second-hand claims that Donald and Robert had a falling out decades ago. The Post’s obituary also spends much of its time on a book from Donald and Robert’s niece, Mary, who trashed the president and thus received praise for her book from the mainstream media.
“Robert Trump, younger brother of President Trump who filed lawsuit against niece, dies at 71,” read the Post’s original headline for Robert’s obituary. The inclusion of Donald’s lawsuit against Mary is not only inappropriate in an obituary headline, it’s also in this case misleading, making it seem as if Donald sued Robert’s daughter. In reality, Donald sued the daughter of his late brother Fred Jr. Robert sought to keep Mary’s book from being published.
“I and the rest of my entire family are so proud of my wonderful brother, the president, and feel that Mary’s actions are truly a disgrace,” Robert said in a statement regarding Mary’s book.
The Post’s obituary for Robert focuses on the alleged feud between him and Donald, and on Mary’s book. The second paragraph of the article mentions Mary’s book, including Mary’s claim that Donald was “the world’s most dangerous man.”
The Post included another quote from Mary’s book, where she claimed: “Donald had discovered early on how easy it was to get under Robert’s pale skin and push him past his limits; it was a game he never tired of playing.”
The Post then relied on former Trump casino executive John O’Donnell’s claims of an argument between the two brothers in 1989 – an argument that may have happened but that clearly didn’t lead to animosity between the two brothers, as Robert praised Donald when he became president and Donald told the post his brother did a “really good job.”
To fill out its obituary, the Post relayed an inheritance battle within the Trump family, another attempt to make the family look bad and make Mary seem sympathetic.
Robert Trump’s obituary by the Post was a far cry different than the outlet’s obituary on terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, whom the Post called an “austere religious scholar” at the time of his death in October 2019. As The Daily Wire previously reported, the Post changed its headline several times after al-Baghdadi’s death. It first read: “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Islamic State’s ‘terrorist-in-chief,’ dies at 48.” The outlet then changed the headline to, “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, austere religious scholar at helm of Islamic State, dies at 48,” before the Post changed it once more to “Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, extremist leader of Islamic State, dies at 48.”
The article itself gave al-Baghdadi more praise than the Post’s article about Robert Trump’s death gave to President Trump.