Ivanka Trump probably hoped to be absolved of her father’s political misdeeds by leaving her White House post, but his mounting scandals are only intensifying the spotlight.
Her family life has especially taken a hit five years after she and her husband, Jared Kushner, stepped down as aides to Donald Trump, concluding his 2017-2021 term. Ivanka has gone as far as to publicly distance herself from Trump since his return to office in 2025, sparingly attending events or posting photos with him.
In his blistering statements about the conflict around the world, Ivanka is keeping the same energy she’s had for the last year.
The stain of Trump’s legacy is shared among those in his orbit, including his five children. As headlines featuring updates about the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran were published, so were candid moments of Ivanka with her sons Joseph and Theodore. She and her husband, Jared Kushner, are also parents to a daughter named Arabella, who was not seen in the photos.
The former teen model was photographed walking to a synagogue on Feb. 28 with her boys, who were on scooters. Ivanka wore a wide-brimmed hat with a black ribbon woven into it, a black, flowy button-up dress with above-the-elbow sleeves, and black kitten-heel ballet flats.
She mostly sported a poker face, with only a handful of snapshots showing her mid-speech and briefly making a closed-mouth smile.
The photographs surfaced hours after Trump okayed airstrikes on Iran with Operation Epic Fury, resulting in the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and subsequent fatal attacks on U.S. bases in the region.
Kushner, who is now a roving diplomatic envoy for his father-in-law, was not involved in the family outing. At first, people reacted to the photos with comments like, “She looks so stately as always. A real woman of the people by the way she dresses. Nepo princess!” and, “She looks great!”
What was presumably Ivanka’s attempt at portraying a normal day-in-the-life crumbled when critics began picking the images apart. “She looks so unbothered. While the world is just falling apart,” a third person commented.
A fourth individual typed, “Fitting being dressed in black for the Iran attack.” Someone else sarcastically chimed in to ask, “Is she running for COVER NOW??? lol.” But, to at least one person, the black wardrobe and lack of expression were perceived as a tell. “She looks checked out more and more,” reads an interpretation.
The absence of her husband and missing key jewelry prompted another to wonder, “Is she wearing her wedding ring?” Ivanka was in fact not wearing her ring, a common observation made by those who’ve speculated for months that Kushner’s marriage has been strained by politics.
Coincidentally, whenever the whispers become too loud, Ivanka and her husband make a joint public appearance, or she includes him in a carousel of memories on Instagram. She recently did the latter, making sure to highlight their romantic date night and cooking lessons.
For Trump, though, his claims about having his family’s support never quite add up to critics, not even when cute moments with his grandchildren are the subject. His granddaughter Kai Trump has inadvertently made him a spectacle with her posts.
On occasion, the 79-year-old appeared dumpy and geriatric in videos shared on Kai’s Instagram and YouTube page, unlike the carefully selected photos published by the administration.
