Trump Claims Ignorance of Anti-Semitic Connotations of “Shylock” after Using Term to Describe Bankers
July 5,2025 – United States President Donald Trump has stated he was unaware of the widely recognized anti-Semitic implications of the term “Shylock,” after using it to describe certain bankers during a speech in Iowa on Thursday. The incident has sparked immediate condemnation from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and renewed scrutiny of Trump’s rhetoric.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, Trump explained his usage, stating, “No, I’ve never heard it that way. To be Shylock is somebody that,say,a money lender at high rates… I’ve never heard that.” He claimed a diffrent understanding of the term than his critics.
The controversy arose during Trump’s “America250” celebration series kickoff at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. While touting the passage of his “One Big Beautiful Bill” – a mega-bill extending his 2017 tax cuts and raising estate tax exemptions – Trump remarked, “Think of that: no death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowing from, in certain specific cases, a fine banker and, in some cases, Shylocks and bad people.”
The term “Shylock” originates from William Shakespeare‘s The merchant of Venice and has historically been used as a pejorative for jewish moneylenders, perpetuating harmful stereotypes about greed and financial exploitation. The ADL released a statement calling Trump’s use of the term “vrey troubling and irresponsible,” emphasizing its “centuries-old antisemitic trope” and the danger of such language coming from a national leader.
This is not the first time Trump and his associates have faced accusations of anti-Semitism. The incident comes as the House of Representatives recently passed a revised version of Trump’s budget mega-bill, despite objections regarding its potential impact on the national deficit and social safety net programs [[1]].
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