President Donald Trump has denied knowing the term “shylock” is an antisemitic slur when he used it during a speech Thursday in Iowa.
Trump held a campaign-style speech at the Iowa state fairgrounds and touched on the multiple accomplishments his administration has had six months into his second term. In describing one aspect of his bill that allows family farms to pay reduced taxes, Trump said, “No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker, and in some cases, shylocks and bad people,” adding, “they destroyed a lot of families, but we did the opposite.”
Trump was asked by a reporter after returning to Washington, “I wanted to ask you about one of the words you used during your speech, shylock, that’s widely used as an antisemitic phrase. Did you intend for your words to be used in that way?”
“I’ve never heard it that way,” Trump responded. “To me, shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. “I’ve never heard it that way, you view it differently than me. I’ve never heard that.”
The word comes from William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” and is the name of the play’s unflattering villain, a self-absorbed and sly moneylender who eventually converts from Judaism to Christianity.
The Anti-Defamation League condemned Trump’s language, posting on X on Friday, “The term ‘Shylock’ evokes a centuries-old antisemitic trope about Jews and greed that is extremely offensive and dangerous.” It added: “President Trump’s use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible. It underscores how lies and conspiracies about Jews remain deeply entrenched in our country. Words from our leaders matter and we expect more from the President of the United States.”
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