US President Donald Trump said Friday that he didn’t know the term “shylock” is considered antisemitic when he used it in a speech to describe unscrupulous moneylenders.
Trump told reporters after returning from an event in Iowa that he had “never heard it that way” and “never heard that” the term was considered an offensive stereotype about Jews.
Shylock refers to the villainous Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” who demands a pound of flesh from a debtor.
The Anti-Defamation League, which works to combat antisemitism, said in a statement that the term “evokes a centuries-old antisemitic trope about Jews and greed that is extremely offensive and dangerous. President Trump’s use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible.”
Some of Trump’s critics said they believed Trump did understand the meaning of the term. “This is blatant and vile antisemitism, and Trump knows exactly what he’s doing,” tweeted Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, a Democrat.
Both Goldman and Jerry Nadler, another Jewish New York Democratic congressman, said Trump’s comment proved that Republicans are concerned about antisemitism only when it serves their political agenda. The Trump administration has cited antisemitism concerns in its effort to deport pro-Palestinian student protesters and penalize US colleges.
“Today’s speech shows that antisemitism in the Trump Administration is the rule not the exception, and emanates from the very top,” tweeted Nadler, who said Trump had used “one of the most recognizable antisemitic slurs in the English language.” He added, “If Donald Trump were serious about fighting antisemitism, he could start with himself.”
Some of Trump’s Jewish supporters, meanwhile, said they were willing to overlook the president’s use of the term. “Trump bombed Iran. He can say Shylock 100 times a day forever as far as I’m concerned,” tweeted John Podhoretz, the editor of Commentary.
Democrat Joe Biden, while vice president, said in 2014 that he had made a “poor choice” of words a day after he used the term in remarks to a legal aid group.
Trump’s administration has made cracking down on antisemitism a priority. His administration said it is screening for antisemitic activity when granting immigration benefits and its fight with Harvard University has centered on allegations from the White House that the school has tolerated antisemitism.
But the Republican president has also had a history of playing on stereotypes about Jewish people.
He told the Republican Jewish Coalition in 2015 that “you want to control your politicians” and suggested the audience used money to exert control.
Before he kicked off his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump drew widespread criticism for dining at his Florida club with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist.
Last year, Trump made repeated comments accusing Jewish Americans who identify as Democrats of disloyalty. Critics said it perpetuated an antisemitic trope about Jews having divided loyalties and there being only one right way to be Jewish.
On Thursday night in his speech in Iowa, Trump used the term while talking about his signature legislation that was passed by Congress earlier in the day.
“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,” he said.
When a reporter later asked about the word’s antisemitic association and his intent, Trump said; “No, I’ve never heard it that way. To me, a shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates. I’ve never heard it that way. You view it differently than me. I’ve never heard that.”
The Anti-Defamation League said Trump’s use of the word “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.”