President Donald Trump has publicly stated his ignorance of the term he used, widely considered anti-Semitism, and explained that he had no idea that it had the meaning.
In the early hours of Friday morning, Republican leaders tackled a controversy over the term “shylock.”
However, the term comes from William Shakespeare’s a Venice merchant, a 16th century Venice merchant. The character’s name, Shylock, is adopted as a light jor for the Lone Shark, especially those of the Jewish faith.
“No, I’ve never heard it that way. Being Shylock is someone who is, say, a high-speed, money lender,” Trump told reporters for Air Force 1, a presidential plane. “I’ve never heard it that way. You see it differently than me. I’ve never heard it.”
Trump used it while visiting Iowa on Thursday for kick-off of his “America250” Celebration Series.
While talking to the crowd at the Iowa Fairgrounds, Trump achieved success early in the day with his signature budget megaville passing.
The House of Representatives had objected to passing an amended version of the bill with a final party line vote of 218-214, causing a national deficit like Medicaid and reducing social safety programs.
But Trump was carrying out the fact that while allowing Megaville to continue his 2017 tax cut, he would continue his 2017 tax cut while also increasing taxes on property transferred at the time of his loved one’s death.
“Think about that. You don’t go to the bank, you don’t borrow from great bankers, sometimes from shylock or bad people,” Trump told the Iowa crowd.
The Prevention League, a group established to fight anti-Semitism, denounced Trump’s use of his term on Friday, pointing to its long history as a slur.
“The term “Shylock” evokes the plunder of centuries-old anti-Semitism about highly aggressive and dangerous Jews and greed. President Trump’s use of terminology is extremely troublesome and irresponsible,” the group wrote in a statement.
“It emphasizes that lies and conspiracies about Jews remain deeply rooted in our country. The words from our leaders are important and we look forward to more from the President of the United States.”
Thursday’s speech wasn’t the first time Trump and his peers have faced anti-Semitism accusations.
On the first day of Trump’s second term as president, then-elon Musk spoke at a rally in the capital’s arena.
Trump himself faced scrutiny by hosting dinner at his Mar Lago Estate with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
The president was also criticized for his unity in 2017 for underestimating the right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Trump explained the rally and its counterargument, saying there were “very great people on both sides.”
But Trump is fighting anti-Semitism against the central theme of his campaign against Harvard University and other academic institutions where Palestinian protests have been unfolded. Critics have described Trump’s attacks as an effort to undermine freedom of speech and academic freedom.
However, Republican leaders are facing backlash, not the first president to use the term “shylock” in recent years.
His democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, who served from 2021 to early 2025, once used the term to describe bankers pursuing foreclosures of military personnel deployed abroad.
“People come to him and talk about what was going on at home from the perspective of foreclosure, from the perspective of the bad loans that existed.
But for the next few days, Biden apologized: “It was a poor choice of words.”
