Trump says he didn’t know term he used in speech is considered antisemitic

President Trump referred to some lenders as “shylocks and bad people” during a Thursday evening speech, using a term the Anti-Defamation League called a “centuries-old antisemitic trope.”

The remarks came during an event in Iowa, as Mr. Trump celebrated the passage of his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. When discussing the law’s changes to the estate tax, he said, “Think of that. 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.”

The word “shylock” is a reference to the name of a Jewish character in William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” who is portrayed as a greedy moneylender. The depiction is widely seen as evocative of antisemitic stereotypes.

When asked about the word’s antisemitic connotations, Mr. Trump told reporters after the speech, “I’ve never heard it that way.”

“The meaning of shylock is somebody that’s a moneylender at high rates. You view it differently. I’ve never heard that,” the president said.

The Anti-Defamation League said Friday on X, “President Trump’s use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible,” writing that the word “evokes a centuries-old antisemitic trope about Jews and greed that is extremely offensive and dangerous.”

Rep. Dan Goldman, a New York Democrat who is Jewish, also criticized Mr. Trump’s remarks in a post on X, writing: “This is blatant and vile antisemitism, and Trump knows exactly what he’s doing.” 

“Anyone who truly opposes antisemitism calls it out wherever it occurs — on both extremes — as I do,” wrote Goldman. 

In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden also drew criticism for railing against “shylocks who took advantage of these women and men while overseas,” referring to military service members who faced foreclosures while serving abroad. Following pushback from the ADL, Biden called it a “poor choice of words,” and the group later said “there was no ill-intent here.”