This Washington Post story on Natalie Harp's family seems to have no journalistic purpose. It's driven by one source--the kooky brother who is estranged from the family, moved to Nicaragua, lives in a hut and, according to the Post, "said he is prepared to die violently for the cause of the Sandinistas." In an interview, the brother said of his Marxist revolutionary comrades: "Glory to the martyrs!" The family is apparently terribly sensitive about the father's death in 2020 at age 61. They would prefer people not know that, despondent during the Covid lockdown, he killed himself. But the brother wants everyone to know, and he "provided an autopsy report and detailed account to The Washington Post," announcing to the world: "He hung himself in the garage." It's not terribly newsworthy that some families have secrets, or that they have a member who "has lost contact with most of his relatives," as the Post says of the brother here. But what value did the Post see in becoming that estranged family member's megaphone? It's hard not to suspect that some at the Post are happy to malign Natalie Harp because she is a close aide to President Trump. But maybe they have some other motivation we don't know. In any event, a reasonable person would read this article and ask: Why are they telling me this?