(CNN) You may not immediately recognize the name "Joe Ricketts." But you should -- he is the patriarch of one of the most influential (and wealthy) families in conservative politics. And he is also, apparently, the author of a slew of emails recently made public in which he condones and even expresses racist and Islamaphobic sentiments.

The emails, which were obtained by Splinter News, detail electronic correspondence sent and received by Ricketts during the 2012 election. There are loads of emails, but here's two, just to give you a sense for their contents.

"Christians and Jews can have a mutual respect for each other to create a civil society. As you know, Islam cannot do that. Therefore we cannot ever let Islam become a large part of our society. Muslims are naturally my (our) enemy due to their deep antagonism and bias against non-Muslims."

"I tired of Political Correct, Multicultural and Diversity aspects of our culture."

Ricketts, who made a fortune as the founder of TD Ameritrade, also passed on a series of racist jokes in the emails and raised questions about whether then-President Barack Obama was born in the United States.

"I deeply regret and apologize for some of the exchanges I had in my emails," Ricketts said earlier this week in a statement posted on his personal web page. "Sometimes I received emails that I should have condemned. Other times I've said things that don't reflect my value system. I strongly believe that bigoted ideas are wrong."