Tulsi Gabbard's brother was arrested in Hawaii for allegedly trying to lure children into a hotel room—and the press couldn't get her name into the headline fast enough.

Why it matters: When a politician falls out of favor with the establishment, family guilt by association becomes standard operating procedure. When it's one of their own, the family member's name never surfaces. This double standard tells ordinary Americans exactly whose relatives get privacy and whose get paraded.

Batarti Gabbard, 55, the older brother of the former Director of National Intelligence, was charged with second-degree custodial interference after a July 12 incident at a Waikīkī hotel pool, according to the Honolulu Police Department. Police say he approached several minors, including a 9-year-old boy, offering them gum and money if they followed him to his room. He also asked the children's names and wrote them in a notebook. All the children refused. A 42-year-old woman reported the encounter to police.

His father, Hawaii state Sen. Mike Gabbard, said his son—whose given name is Bhakti—has suffered from mental health issues but had been stable for a decade before spiraling after smoking marijuana.

"Our oldest son Bhakti has had mental issues in the past but has been doing well for the last 10 years," Mike Gabbard said in a statement obtained by KITV. "Several days ago, he started acting erratically, as a result of smoking pot. His wife kicked him out of the house, so he's been sleeping on the streets."

The father said his son gave his car to a homeless person, lost his ID and phone, and renamed himself "Batarti" and "Jim Morrison Jr.," suffering delusions of being a rock star. During a hospital psychological evaluation, Bhakti Gabbard told doctors they would find "cocaine, ice and pot in his blood tests," his parents said. He was placed on a 72-hour hold at Queen's Hospital.

Gabbard was also arrested Thursday for a separate theft incident. He pleaded not guilty to theft charges Friday and is due back in court Aug. 14. No court date has been set for the custodial interference case.

Tulsi Gabbard has not publicly commented on her brother's arrest. She resigned as Director of National Intelligence in May after her husband was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.

Now here's the part the press won't acknowledge: the New York Post headline leads with "Tulsi Gabbard's brother"—not "Hawaii man" or "state senator's son." Mike Gabbard is the sitting state senator. He's the parent who issued the statement. He's the one with a direct relationship to the accused. But the click value is in Tulsi's name, because she's the national figure the establishment press loves to punish.

This is the pattern. When Hunter Biden's laptop surfaced, mainstream outlets spent years dismissing it—and buried the family connection. When a disfavored politician has a relative in trouble, the surname goes straight to the top of the page.

Batarti Gabbard faces serious charges and the facts deserve reporting. The open question is why the press only finds a politician's surname newsworthy when that politician is on the wrong side of the establishment.