The Washington Post “should be ashamed of itself” over its headline on an obituary for Robert Trump, brother of the president, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote Sunday morning.
Just after midnight, Cruz retweeted a screen capture from The Post’s website, which included a headline reading: “Robert Trump, younger brother of President Trump who filed lawsuit against niece, dies at 71.”
“This headline, on an ‘obituary’ no less, is sick,” Cruz wrote. “WaPo should be ashamed of itself. Robert Trump, RIP.”
The headline still appeared on the Post’s website an hour after Cruz’s tweet. The senator was apparently offended by the newspaper using the obituary headline to highlight a recent Trump family dispute.
Benny Johnson, an executive with conservative group Turning Point USA, reminded his Twitter followers that just last October a Washington Post obituary headline had described the late ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as an “austere religious scholar.” Baghdadi died as a result of a U.S.-led military operation.
“The Washington Post couldn’t put politics aside for one night,” Johnson wrote. “They treated the Leader of ISIS better than the brother of the President of the United States.”
Just weeks before his death, Robert Trump had tried to block the publication of a book by Mary Trump, a niece of both Robert Trump and the president whose father was their late brother Fred Trump Jr., who died in 1981.
Robert Trump, who died Saturday in New York at age 71, was retired after years as a top executive with the Trump Organization. He was also involved in numerous charitable causes, including holiday giving and horse rescues.
The loss of his younger brother prompted a statement from President Trump on Saturday night.
“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” the president wrote. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”
The president had visited with his brother just one day earlier in a New York City hospital.
Washington Post articles and headlines have been frequent targets of criticism.
On Wednesday, Post columnist David Byler was blasted for referring to Democrat Joe Biden’s running mate, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris of California, as a “small-c conservative, party-friendly pick,” despite her record of taking liberal stands on many issues.
On Monday, Post columnist Jennifer Rubin drew pushback for an essay titled, “Do we even need the Republican Party?”
In February, heavy criticism prompted the newspaper to change a headline that originally read: “It’s time to give the elites a bigger say in choosing the president.”
The revised headline read: “It’s time to switch to preference primaries.”
*story by Fox News