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Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump, has been called "the plausibly deniable face of Trump's dark legacy" in an opinion article that mentions her conversion to the Jewish faith alongside her father's growing mob of anti-Semitic supporters.
In a Haaretz opinion article entitled, "Ivanka Trump Is Perfect Cover for Antisemitic, Racist, Conspiracy-loving Republicans," writer Mia Bloom noted that Ivanka Trump and other members of the Trump family are likely to continue Donald Trump's political legacy by possibly running for office.
Allies of Donald Trump have told Politico that Ivanka Trump may possibly run for Florida Republican Marco Rubio's Senate seat in 2022.
However, despite Ivanka Trump's Judaism, Donald Trump's most devoted followers are "less circumspect about their antipathy toward Jews" and their beliefs in "baseless conspiracy theories tinged with historic anti-Semitic tropes," Bloom wrote.
For example, Donald Trump is a heroic figure among QAnon conspiracy theorists whose belief in a worldwide Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophile ring is rooted in anti-Semitic "blood libel" repeated in the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and numerous other anti-Semitic texts.
The mob of Capitol insurrectionists seeking to overturn the election's results on January 6 included QAnon supporters as well as "neo-Nazis and antisemites of various stripes, including the far-right Proud Boys, the Nationalist Social Club, white nationalist Nick Fuentes' 'groypers' and one man, Robert Keith Packer, wearing a 'Camp Auschwitz' sweatshirt," Bloom wrote.
Bloom also noted that the Republican party has two QAnon believers among its Congressmembers now—Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert—as well as Republican North Carolina Congressman Madison Cawthorn, a man who bragged on Instagram in 2017 about visiting the holiday home of "The Fuhrer" ("The Leader") Nazi-leader Adolf Hitler.
Cawthorn wrote that the Nazi-leader's home had been on his "bucket list for years. And it did not disappoint," though he also referred to Hitler as "a supreme evil."
"The fact that Ivanka Trump is a convert to Judaism will have little impact on the increasing racism and conspiracy theorizing in American politics. Ivanka continues to be the plausibly deniable face of Trump's dark legacy, whether she runs for office or not," Bloom wrote.
Ivanka Trump was raised as a Presbyterian Christian but converted to Orthodox Judaism in July 2009, partly to conform to the wishes of her then-soon-to-be-husband Jared Kushner's parents. Kushner and Ivanka Trump married in October 25, 2009.
The growing anti-Semitic element among right-wing Republicans puts Jewish Republicans in a tough spot.
The Anti-Defamation League reported more annual anti-Semitic incidents during Donald Trump's administration than it ever had in the 40 years since the league began tracking such data.
In February 2017, when Donald Trump was asked what his administration would do amid an increase in anti-Semitic attacks, he replied, "I am the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever seen in your entire life."
Donald Trump once tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton's face next to a pile of money and the Jewish Star of David alongside the phrase, "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!" A separate ad of his showed the faces of powerful Jewish people and called them part of a "global power structure" that has "robbed our working class" and "stripped our country of its wealth," according to journalist Bess Levin.
The Jewish Democratic Council of America has called his December 8, 2019 comments to the Israeli American Council's National Summit, which characterized Jews as murderous money-loving businessmen, "deeply offensive," "unconscionable," and "vile and bigoted."
Exit polls from the November 2020 elections noted that only 21 to 30 percent of American Jewish voters chose Trump; the majority chose Biden.
On December 11, 2019, Donald Trump signed an executive order on combatting anti-Semitism. However, New Yorker author Masha Gessen noted that the order threatened to cut off federal funding to colleges and universities whose student groups include any that are critical of Israeli policies.
"The new executive order will not protect anyone against anti-Semitism, and it's not intended to," Gessen wrote. "Its sole aim is to quash the defense—and even the discussion—of Palestinian rights. Its victim will be free speech."
Newsweek contacted Ivanka Trump for comment.
Correction: A previous version of this article misidentified Bloom as a Haaretz writer. She is actually a researcher with the Evidence-Based Cyber Security program in Atlanta, Georgia. Newsweek regrets this error.
