For 29-year-old Elizabeth Pipko, Donald Trump has been much more than a boss. In her incredible life story, the American president constitutes a defining event, no less.
A person who changed the course of her life from the moment she became aware of his political work. An almost divine factor who taught her no less than any rabbi she met in the synagogues she attended. A mentor, a spiritual teacher.
“Trump completely changed my life,” she says. “So, my entire life has focused around Donald Trump for about eight years, a little bit longer. So, I don’t think my brain has realized yet what it means to not be in a campaign and not be fighting for Donald Trump, because that’s all we know.
“My husband [Darren Centinello, who was the campaign’s digital director] and I used to joke that we’d get divorced after the election was over because we didn’t know if we had anything else to talk about. After all, all we talked about was Donald Trump. … I met my husband through the campaign.”
Considering that joining his team was the moment that helped Pipko emerge from the lowest point of her life, it’s understandable.
Today, she is one of the women closest to the president’s ear. After working with him for eight years, and being a spokesperson for the Republican Party, coordinating campaign fundraising and helping him reach the White House twice, Pipko is one of Donald’s confidantes, and to a large extent, this involves explaining the Jewish and Israeli views to him on the current war in Gaza.
She regularly appears in studios and gives interviews, makes regular television appearances, and defends Israel passionately. She condemns progressive nonsense, points out woke hypocrisy, and raises awareness of problematic-to-outrageous statements by people in positions of power in higher education institutions in the U.S.
Jexodus
Through the “Jexodus” movement she founded (later renamed The Exodus Movement), Pipko helps American Jews, a population mostly identified with the left side of the political map, move to the right side.
Now, she’s leading a joint project with Chabad that will make mitzvot accessible to Jews in America. And to think that in a parallel universe, she was a potential Olympic athlete.
Pipko was born in New York in 1995, the daughter of a Jewish immigrant family from the Soviet Union and granddaughter of the artist Marc Klionsky (1927-2017).
“I attended an Orthodox Jewish school from age three, but I wouldn’t say we were devout,” she says. “We went to synagogue on holidays, sometimes on Saturdays, and of course, I learned Hebrew. I did everything my parents wanted me to do, but we didn’t keep kosher. I never ate pork, shrimp or cheeseburgers, but I would eat meat outside [the home], for example.”
In her youth, she discovered the world of figure skating, convinced her parents to switch to homeschooling, and devoted all her time to training for the biggest and most important competitions in the world, but a leg injury pulled the ground out from under her feet and brought her to a mental low before she turned 20. After investing years in a dream that evaporated in a second, Pipko was lost.
“Everyone I knew was applying to good colleges; I never thought of going to college because I wanted to go to the Olympics. I stopped going to class and doing work. I just cried in my bed all day, every day.
“After they removed my cast, I realized I couldn’t go up and down stairs, and I was now a 17-year-old girl who was behind in her classes, had no friends, didn’t know what she was going to do, and had to go to the doctor five days a week to relearn how to walk and how to do stairs. I had nothing. And I continued being depressed and a giant mess for two years, three years.”
‘Saved my life’
Luck began to turn in her favor thanks to her mother, or to be precise—thanks to the family dog.
“My mom used to walk our dog in Central Park, and one day a photographer who was there stopped her and asked if he could take the dog for a short time for a photo session. When he asked how he could repay her, Mom replied: ‘Can you do a photo shoot with my daughter? She’s very depressed, and I think she’ll feel better.’
“I met the photographer the next day. We maybe, you know, did 30 minutes of some pictures in the park with her just trying to do it as a favor for my mom. She decided to send the photos to the biggest modeling agency in the world, and a week later they offered me a contract.”
From that point onward, Pipko became a sought-after model, signed with Wilhelmina Models, appeared on the covers of magazines such as Esquire, Grazia and Contrast. But the real change in her life came alongside Trump’s first run for the presidency.
“To witness the whole world mocking him when he says he’s going to be president, to see him running and continuing the campaign and, of course, ultimately winning, was simply inspiring. I watched his videos, read his books and later started volunteering for his campaign.
“Today, I have a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University and a master’s degree from UPenn, I was the spokesperson for the Republican Party, and I think I’m doing truly important things for the world. I truly believe that Donald Trump saved my life.”
Q: But it’s hard to deny that he’s a controversial figure, and his statements regarding women don’t paint him in a positive light.
A: “If I didn’t know him myself and hadn’t spent time with his family and staff but only read the stories about him, I would hate him too.
“I say that all the time because the stories are horrific. At the same time, when you look into the stories, you find out that this is a lie and this is exaggerated, and this is here. So, I think there are two ways to look at it.
“However, I have never argued Donald Trump was the perfect person. I have never argued that he was an angel on earth and that all the accusations or everything he’s been through was a lie. The only thing I’ve argued is that he’s the perfect person to be president of our country.”
Last month, the world was shocked over the controversial meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. For Pipko, the Feb. 28 meeting touched on a very personal point.
“The two main issues I talk about are the issue of Israel and the Middle East and the issue of Russia and Ukraine,” says Pipko. “My family is from there, and when the war began, I loudly supported Ukraine.
“Even Trump said it’s a shame that Russia invaded Ukraine. The fact is that it didn’t happen during his term; several years have passed, and now that he’s the president, he is committed to supporting peace.”
Q: How would you define the relationship between Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
A: “I mean, in general, I think the back and forth that they’ve had between good and bad is a good thing. I think when you have a real relationship, it has its ups and downs.
“Like Bibi said, our enemies are the same enemies. Our victories will be the same victories. I think the relationship that they have proves that they both see the world in the same way.
“Trump witnessed what happened on October 7, and he is much more focused on trying to support Israel and trying to bring peace to the region than on his personal relationships with any of those involved.
“These are two leaders and two nations that actually work together in the world to try to bring goodness and preserve Western civilization for the rest of society. I think that’s why they’re as close as they are.
“Before October 7, obviously, Netanyahu was dealing with the kind of protest that we see over here all the time. So, I think they deal with a lot of the same things politically, I think Donald Trump respects a strong leader, respects a strong leader who’s made a comeback like he has.”
Q: Is the voluntary deportation plan from Gaza a realistic thing?
A: “Under Donald Trump, anything is possible. The man has done many things that many people said were impossible, that’s for sure. Trump has a very specific negotiation style, right?
“And very often, he says things or demands things or asks for things that people say are impossible, maybe that he even knows are impossible, and at the end of the day, the compromise ends up being exactly what he would have wanted from day one.”
Q: Is he aiming for the Nobel Peace Prize?
A: “I would say this: After Barack Obama got it for nearly nothing, Donald Trump certainly might deserve it for even the Abraham Accords in his last term, or we’ll see what happens in this one.
“But I mean, when he said I’m bringing the hostages home and I’m making peace in the region, he meant it.”
Q: You said that you wanted to be a part of the administration. So, what’s next?
A: “It would be the honor of a lifetime, of course, to serve the American people. So, I’m not going to stop thinking about it. I’m going to focus on a few other things at the same time right now, but I’m sure I’ll make my way into the administration before it’s over.”
Q: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
A: “President? Maybe that first female president. I mean, why not? We need a first female. We need a first Jew. Why not just combine the two, you know?”
Originally published by Israel Hayom.