2016 election's leading candidates have strong Jewish family ties

A presidential historian and former White House staffer told an Aug. 11 gathering in Long Branch that the 2016 presidential race is shaping up to be the “most Jewish” in history.

“Think about it,” said Dr. Tevi Troy. “Both leading candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, have machatunim,” Jewish in-laws of their daughters. (Chelsea Clinton is married to the Jewish Marc Mezvinsky, and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, married the Orthodox Jared Kushner, originally of Livingston, after converting.)

“It’s remarkable how little comment there is” on this phenomenon, Troy said. “The larger American society accepts this with nary a second thought. I can’t think of any other country where the leading candidates have machatunim — except Israel.”