How Jewish Family Values Keep Ivanka Trump Classy
Image by Getty Images
(JTA) — A dishy dispatch in Vanity Fair has taken careful note of the skillful way that Ivanka Trump is supporting the scorched-earth presidential campaign of her father, Donald Trump, while avoiding any tinge to her own reputation. The answer, it appears, lies in a careful combination of Jewish family values, hard work and a culture of reality-star worship.
“Everyone knows she is first and foremost a Trump – she even works for the family company,” a source from the within Trump society circles told Vanity Fair of the socialite. “But that doesn’t mean she is 100 percent just like her father, or even agreeing with everything her father says. She is definitely her own person, and she is a person a lot of people would like to be associated with for exactly that reason.”
Indeed, while Ivanka Trump may have kept the Trump name, she has her own family — and her own religion. She converted to Orthodox Judaism in 2009 when she married real estate mogul Jared Kushner, with whom she now has two children.
“We’re pretty observant,” she told Vogue magazine in February. “I am very modern, but I’m also a very traditional person, and I think that’s an interesting juxtaposition in how I was raised as well. I really find that with Judaism, it creates an amazing blueprint for family connectivity.”
Trump’s image as a loving wife and mother is now central to her “practically impenetrable” brand, the Vanity Fair article noted. Even as her billionaire father spouts polemical remarks about women and immigrants in the Republican presidential race, the daughter’s Instagram feed continues to feature a steady stream of praise for her and her two young children.
Ivanka Trump’s strong social media presence also highlight her accomplishments as a businesswoman and fashion icon, and it helps that socialites and reality stars have a stronger foothold in high society than they did in generations past.
But unlike many of the Twitter-happy demigods of today’s Insta-star society, Trump has the advantage of excellent manners and unflappable decorum, the article suggested. She can steer a conversation and support her father while never wading too deep into any mess he might have created.
“According to friends, Ivanka will proudly acknowledge her father’s decision to run, but don’t expect her to get into a political debate with you over appetizers,” the article said. “This is what makes the younger, Ivy League–educated Trump so diplomatic: she knows exactly how to stand her ground while still maintaining her grace.”
When push comes to political shove, it seems, Trump relies on the age-old gift of excellent etiquette. Call it her, ahem, trump card.
A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
