President Donald Trump used a term many consider to be an antisemitic slur while referencing unscrupulous bankers during a campaign-style rally in Iowa on Thursday night, held to kick off a year-long celebration leading up to the nation's 250th birthday.
Trump used the phrase while promoting the impacts of his signature legislation that had just been passed by Congress hours earlier.
"No death tax. No estate tax. No going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker — and in some cases, shylocks and bad people," he said, going on to thank Republicans who championed the legislation and detail the savings he expected it would achieve.
When asked about his use of the term after he got off Air Force One, he said that he has "never heard that" the word could be considered antisemitic.
I've never heard it that way," he said. "The meaning of Shylock is somebody that's a money lender at high rates. You view it differently. I've never heard that.
The word refers to loan sharks and has long been considered offensive, playing on stereotypes of Jews and money. Shylock is a Jewish character from Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice," who is portrayed as a villain and demands a "pound of flesh" from another character who fails to repay a loan.
I think today, it's a term used primarily based on ignorance. But it continues to be seen by Jews as an antisemitic term, regardless of how you use it," said Abe Foxman, the former director of the Anti-Defamation League. "The president of the United States should know better.
Trump in the past has been accused of using antisemitic tropes While talking about Jewish people, for example, he repeatedly told the Republican Jewish Coalition in 2015 that he did not want their money, as well as promoted memes with antisemitic symbols.
But he has also sought to align himself with Jewish people, pointing out publicly that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is Jewish, as are his daughter Ivanka and their children. And in his second term as president, he has focused on combating antisemitism, signing executive orders on it and waging battles against universities that have allowed protests against Israel's war in Gaza.
"They're totally antisemitic at Harvard," he said in May.
On Thursday, hours before the remark, he hosted an American-Israeli hostage at the White House who was taken when Hamas militants stormed his base in Israel and dragged him into the Gaza Strip. And on Monday, he is scheduled to welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an effort to push for an end to the war in Gaza.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday about his use of the term.
Joe Biden also used the word in 2014 when referring to loan officers who forced members of the military into foreclosure.
"I mean, these Shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas," Biden said at the time.
After coming under criticism, He apologized. , saying he made a "poor choice of words."
Foxman was among those who had criticized Biden at the time and urged him to own his mistake. He doesn’t expect the same this time.
I think most people are quick, when they realize what they said and it's brought to their attention, to apologize and take it back," he said. "President Trump is different. He doesn't apologize period.
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