The usual suspects are up in arms because President Trump used the word “shylock” in connection with moneylenders. However, as always, context matters, and I’m willing to give him a huge pass.
Trump was touting his Big Beautiful Bill in Iowa, including the fact that it does away with estate taxes and other federal impositions on borrowed money. It was in that context that he used the word “shylock”:
No death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing some from, in some cases, a fine banker and in some cases, shylocks and bad people.
As culturally literate people know, that word’s origin traces back to Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, and the Jewish moneylender who quite literally wants his pound of flesh from those unlucky enough to borrow from him. Over the centuries, the word “shylock” has come down to us to mean a usurious lender.
Image of Trump at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the site of the Second Temple that the Romans destroyed. He was the first president ever to visit the most holy site in Judaism. Public domain image.
So, yes, the word is inherently antisemitic insofar as its roots lie with a famous literary figure who is both Jewish and avaricious, the famous Western stereotype ascribed to Jews. And yes, antisemitic people apply it with vigor to Jews.
(By the way, for those unaware, the primary reason that Jews were moneylenders was because the pre-modern Catholic Church believed it was immoral to charge interest on money, so the job fell to the Jews. We now know, of course, that making money a commodity is one of the best ways to grow an economy. Islam, like the medieval church, bars interest...)
However, I’ve never gotten the feeling that Trump, despite his education, has any literary awareness whatsoever. If he ever heard of the Merchant of Venice or Shylock, both were long ago banished from his brain to make room for matters of greater importance, such as wealth creation when he was in business, or restoring America now that he’s president.
What this means is that the word is, for him, simply a word that means an avaricious lender, without any Jewish connotations. In the same way, people today speak of an “assassin” without any awareness that the word refers to an Islamic sect that was famous for (a) eating hashish and (b) killing political leaders in the Middle Ages. Thus, the Arabic “hashishin” worked its way through French and Italian to our modern “assassin.” Or they say a situation is bedlam, without realizing it refers to London’s famous St. Mary of Bethlehem insane asylum, which continues to exist as a modern psychiatric hospital.
When Trump came of age, everyone who wasn’t Jewish referred to “shylocks” when talking about an onerous creditor, and they did so regardless of whether the creditor was Jewish or not. Again, I hate the term, and hate hearing it, but I believe Trump’s cultural ignorance—which he used to explain his ignorance about the term’s antisemitic roots—is real.
But of course, the really important context is that Trump is the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. I don’t believe he’s a Zionist. I think he acts because he understands that Israel is America’s leading defense against radical Islam. If Israel goes, America is next. Trump hates war, and will support Israel’s defense against Islam, so he doesn’t have to send American troops. He sees Israel as a partner, and that works for me. John Podhoretz gets it, too:
Finally, while Trump may not know his Bible or his Shakespeare, nor is he a Zionist, he has a core morality that says that antisemitism is wrong. That’s why he, unlike any other president, is tackling the antisemitism endemic in academia. And it’s important to note that, while this antisemitism became overt after October 7, 2023, it’s been a festering sore since the 1990s. Clinton, George W. Bush, Obama, and Biden all ignored it. Trump, who was under siege during his first term didn’t address it. Now, he is attacking it root and branch. So—and this is not a formatting mistake—let me again quote John Podhoretz:Trump bombed Iran. He can say Shylock 100 times a day forever as far as I’m concerned.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) July 4, 2025
Trump bombed Iran. He can say Shylock 100 times a day forever as far as I’m concerned.
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) July 4, 2025
Trump may not know the Bible, but, in a way, the Bible knows him. Matthew 7:15 quotes Jesus saying, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” It’s understood to mean that, no matter what people say, what matters are their actions. Trump’s actions have been consistently philosemitic, and if he tosses around a word common in his generation...well, I’m focusing on the fruit, that’s all I can say.