Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law, is taking a prominent role in Trump’s campaign. He writes speeches, weighs in on staffing decisions and appears regularly by his father-in-law’s side.
Kushner is also the owner and publisher of a newspaper, the New York Observer.
His involvement in Trump’s campaign is rankling some of the Observer’s reporters. This afternoon, Dana Schwartz published an “open letter” to Kushner for not speaking out about an anti-Semitic image Trump tweeted over the weekend. (The image was originally created by a white supremacist.)
Schwartz criticized the image on Twitter and was subjected to anti-Semitic harassment by numerous Trump supporters.
“Please do not condescend to me and pretend you don’t understand the imagery of a six-sided star when juxtaposed with money and accusations of financial dishonesty,” Schwartz writes.
Schwartz said Kushner was “allowing this” by standing “silent and smiling in the background, his Jewish son-in-law.”
ThinkProgress talked to Schwartz this afternoon about what drove her to write the piece, the reaction thus far, and her thoughts on the future.
Note: this interview has been edited lightly for grammar and clarity.ThinkProgress: Have you ever met Kushner in person?
Schwartz: I have not! Although I’ve only worked here for a few months.
TP: When did you start and what were you doing before that?
Schwartz: [I started at The Observer] May 9th or so. I was working at Mental Floss and at the New Yorker, part-time as a cartoon assistant.
TP: Were you aware of Kushner’s role in the Trump campaign when you took the job and did it factor into your decision at all?
Schwartz: It did to some degree, to be perfectly honest.
But upon speaking with the editor-in-chief, Ken Kurson, and Drew Grant, editor of the arts section, it became obvious to me that the Trump connection wouldn’t influence the type of writing I would be doing at all.
After all, they let me write something like this — I never saw any indication they were the type to censor a voice. I was also offered a position as an entertainment writer, which meant my connection to politics was even more distant.
TP: Did your piece today go through an editor?
It would have felt wrong to continue working for Mr. Kushner without voicing my opinion now that I’m here.
Schwartz: Ha. So. I did email Ken this morning asking, in a pretty long, detailed email exactly what and why I wanted to write what I was going to write. He responded with just the word: “Go.”
And it was proofread by the deputy arts editor.
TP: So Trump has been involved in a lot of controversies — including some involving anti-Semitism. What about this tweet and the response from Trump moved you to write something like this?
Schwartz: How personal and violent the attacks were on Twitter. I’ve been attacked for being a feminist before with some pretty disgusting tweets, but there’s something particularly shaking about seeing a threat invoking the holocaust. I’ve always been vocal about my political feelings, but it would have felt wrong to continue working for Mr. Kushner without voicing my opinion now that I’m here.
TP: Are you worried you’ll get fired?
Schwartz: Not really. I asked the editor-in-chief before I published. And everything I wrote was, to the best of my knowledge, true. And reflected my honest feelings.
TP: How has the response been, inside the paper and outside?
Schwartz: It’s been remarkably and humblingly supportive. It doesn’t hurt that I put a quality filter on my Twitter two days ago. But I can’t express how grateful I am that people are reading it.
TP: Your piece is a call to action. What is something you think Kushner could do or should do?
Schwartz: Well, first I would love him to acknowledge the original image was anti-Semitic. I doubt that will happen.
But in lieu of that, completely and explicitly disavowing white supremacists and anti-Semites, along with an apology would be a nice start.
TP: If Kushner doesn’t do anything, do you think that could make it difficult to continue working for the Observer?
Schwartz: I’m glad I work at a place that let me publish my thoughts. I’m not intolerant of views that differ from my own, but I consider it important to voice my thoughts.
Update:
Kushner responds:
With all due respect, Mr. Kushner, that wasn't the point. pic.twitter.com/Aiyp9zCXHd
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) July 5, 2016