Trump criticised for using antisemitic term to describe money lenders
President Donald Trump has claimed he did not know the term “shylock” is considered antisemitic when he used it in a speech to describe unscrupulous money lenders.
Mr Trump told reporters early on Friday 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”.
Joe Biden
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.
Mr Trump’s administration has said cracking down on antisemitism is a priority. His administration said it is screening for antisemitic activity when granting immigration benefits and its fight with Harvard University has centred 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.
Holocaust denier
Before he kicked off his 2024 presidential campaign, Mr Trump drew widespread criticism for dining at his Florida club with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist.
Last year, he made repeated comments accusing Jewish Americans who identify as Democrats of disloyalty because of the Democratic leaders’ criticisms of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 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, Mr 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, Mr 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 Mr 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”.
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With all the support Trump gives Netanyahu in the genocide against Palestinians and blowing up a sovereign country he can hardly be regarded as antisemitic. There are other names and phrases to regard him as but I would be insulting bones and heads.
Rump knew full well what he was saying. I can’t believe that a bully like him who knows how to offend people said it by mistake.
The word in US English does have the specific meaning President Trump assigned to it but it is one of those words which is not sufficiently separate from an alternative meaning to avoid giving offence. There are other words now best avoided for their resemblance to or homophony with taboo words. For example niggardly which has nothing to do with the n word. The African oily seed Niger Seed is often spelled Nyja for the same reason.
He’s lucky that he didn’t say it at a music festival or the Daily Mail and GB News would be calling for his impeachment.
Trump knew exactly what he was saying. He is a bully, this is his mo.
ICE are now off the lead and people are going to disappear faster. Usually because they are a different colour to the dictator. Do you really think he cares what he says if he can offend people?
Is Starmer going to be as vocal about this as he was over Palestine Action and Glastonbury!
What a shock that Trump doesn’t fully understand the words he uses. This is why he often prefers to make one up!
This is not fight he can win. It is derogatory and it is not nice. I have a big issue with the genocide in Palestine but name calling is not the way forward. It doesn’t take a genius to know that whoever runs the banking runs the world. But then again….
No-one can be surprised that the masked slipped. Plenty on the right only back Israel as a vehicle to hate on Arabs and Muslims just as plenty on the left only back Palestine to hate on Jews. The result is a strange alliance that never wants the conflict to end.
Wow thats a bold statement. Stating anyone on the left hates Jewish people. Im sure the last bloke to murder millions of Jews was a right wing Nazi.
Most people on the left who want peace and an end to genocide in Palestine dont do it because they hate Jews. They do it because they have a moral compass and empathy. Unlike you.
. I”m sure you can back up your claim with facts and not just your hateful opinion. Otherwise you are just talking nonsense. Like most of your posts.
It seems you are diluting the genocide and land grab by calling it a conflict. What hamas did on October 7th was a despicable day of terrorism but what ensued after was on a whole different level. It certainly does not feel like an even match. It has been pretty much one sided for several decades.
I’m talking about the last 80 years, not just the current war.
So was I.
Focusing on the consequences rather than the causes is exactly how nothing has changed in all these decades. If either side of the political spectrum had wanted it solved it would have been solved by now. We don’t have this problem with the Islamic state of Pakistan, created in a very similar way at a very similar time. So why are we really in this situation that the poor Palestinian people are being eternally used as fodder in a global proxy resistance to a Jewish state? The bottom line is that the latter two Abrahamic faiths have never forgiven the… Read more »
So you are completely unaware of Kashmir and the recent short battle between India and Pakistan over this plot of land. I don’t think encouraging settlers to continue to take land from Palestinians in West Bank was helping to resolve 2000 years of hatred. Which I dont subscribe to. Whatever is happening in that tiny portion of land is happening only because of what happened in the past few years. Netanyahu surrounding himself with hard liners to bolster his support and push him to one consesequential direction would bring about peace. As a Muslim, I have always been grateful to… Read more »
Is anyone suggesting that Pakistan should be returned to India and the Islamic state abolished?
It is the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. They can do whatever they want with each other. The fact that it was established alongside East Pakistan now Bangladesh meant that the remaining Muslims in India have become a minority and the existing government have learnt from the British Raj how to keep a hold on power by creating divisions. This creating of divisions and pushing towards extreme forms of religion so that politicians can remain in power is the same sort of game the zionist government is playing on one side and fueling Hamas who probably do the same. The result… Read more »
Are you suggesting that Pakistan should be returned to India to solve the division?
Will the zionists allow the Palestinians their sovereign land?
Changing the subject is why this won’t get solved. Progress cannot be made until there is agreement on the right of Israel and Pakistan to exist.
There is no similarity between Zion and Pakistan. I am not sure why Bangladesh is not being mentioned. Those 3 countries exist due to the break up of India. Zion does not want to break up into 2.
The point is about legitimacy. The only reason Palestinians are dying is because other states refuse to recognise Israel because there can be no lasting negotiated settlement with powers that don’t recognise one party. Yet the same states have no problem recognising other religious states created in a similar way at a similar time, despite the millions who lost their ancestral lands to create them. Until this double think is resolved nothing can change. But who really wants to solve it? What’s an anti-Semite supposed to do with everyone living happily together in the Middle East?
The only reason Palestinians are dying because zionists are killing them. No more excuses. Stop blaming others. Clearly the zionists want the land all for themselves. They will eliminate the Palestinians.
Have you noticed that none of those supposedly supporting Palestinians are trying to get the kids out of a warzone? That’s because they need the kids in harms way to create headlines that they believe justify their anti-Semitism. Of course, Palestinians themselves are a Semitic people so it’s a win-win for an anti-Semite.
Once they get out, the zionists said they can’t come back. No one else is giving them refuge. It does seem a shame that this is your defence and solution to their annihilation. I think we have reached a brick wall. And that is why there is no peace. Zionists do not want to share.
When Russia invaded Ukraine no-one said leave the kids there in case they can’t get back in. It’s absolutely shameful Palestinian children are being used as political leverage by their own supporters when it should be clear that their return can be a red line in any peace negotiation.
Go where?
Return to where?
Have we offered the Palestinians a refugee system like we did the Ukrainians?
That’s exactly the point. Why aren’t those who claim to support the Palestinian cause demanding the same response? It’s not even on the protest banners. Why didn’t the recent stunt with the boat try to rescue some children instead of just taking meagre rations? The only explanation is the one I offered before. It’s a vehicle for antisemitism dressed up as a righteous humanitarian cause. If you doubt this for a second, try talking to protesters about real practical lasting solutions that might let Israelis and Palestinians live together in peace. There is zero interest in such a discussion, only… Read more »
I blame the zionists for not stopping the land grabbing before the October 7th terrorist event.
Change the leadership in India. Division eased.
If the people want to be divided then toppling a democratically elected government and holding new elections will just produce another divisive government. That’s democracy.
Not a Dickens reader then!
How shocked and appalled I am that a party which accuses Jewish people of damaging property and endangering lives with ‘space lasers’ is engaging in repellent anti-semitic rhetoric. Oh wait, no I’m not. This is a deliberate divide and rule strategy.