Trump says he had 'never heard' Shylock as an anti-semitic term after using it at rally

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

Updated 10:07 AM EDT, Fri July 4, 2025


CNN — President Donald Trump said early Friday that he wasn’t aware that some people view the word “Shylock” as antisemitic after using the term during a rally to decry amoral money lenders. “I’ve never heard it that way. To me, Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates,” Trump told reporters after getting off Air Force One. “I’ve never heard it that way, you view it differently than me. I’ve never heard that.” Trump was arriving back in Washington after an event in Iowa marking the kick-off to nationwide celebrations marking the country’s 250th anniversary next year.

In his speech, he used the word when touting aspects of the major domestic policy bill that had been approved by Congress a few hours earlier. “Think of that: no death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowings from in some cases a fine banker. And in some cases, Shylocks and bad people,” he said during his event in Des Moines. “They took away a lot of, a lot of family. They destroyed a lot of families, but we did the opposite.”

The name “Shylock” derives from the name of the antagonist in William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice.” Shylock, a Jew, was a ruthless moneylender in the play, and he’s remembered for demanding a “pound of flesh” from the merchant Antonio if he failed to repay a loan.

The Anti-Defamation League condemned Trump’s use of the word Friday morning. “The term ‘Shylock’ 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,” the organization wrote in a statement on X. “It 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.”

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/04/politics/trump-iowa-rally-antisemitic-term

[Behind the Aegis]

1. Up next: "I can't be an anti-Semite (what I said wasn't anti-Semitic) because I have a Jewish kid/grandkids."

I hear that excuse a lot!

[unblock]

2. Soon he'll be saying, " n----- is a racist term? Whoever heard of that?"

[tanyev]

52. Yep. Every racist name for every ethnic group he hates--

That’s just what they used to be called. It wasn’t racist.

[Montauk6]

67. Think about this...

At THIS point, he can use that word and CNN and the NY Times will just say, "President Donald J. Trump made controversial remarks today..."

Faux Noose and the Flying Monkey Reich Wing Noise Machine will say, "The President made remarks triggering certain groups though they have themselves used the term more often."

David Brooks will say, "What the President said was outright disgusting, and regrettably, this is a result of the tone and rhetoric we're now seeing far too often out of Washington."

[2MuchNoise]

3. He doesn't know E. Jean Carroll...

He doesn't know Kamala Harris is Black, he doesn't know there are Medicaid cuts in his flabby bill, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know, he doesn't know...

[chowder66]

8. But he has the highest IQ and knows more than the Generals!

[Prof. Toru Tanaka]

14. Yet he is a Stable Genius who knows more than his generals.

The man who knows everything also knows nothing!

[Bengus81]

54. Trump really never knew Epstein but..."heard that he liked girls on the young side"

On and on and on with the fucking BS.....

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Can we all admit he knows absolutely nothing about anything? Like a 3 year old.

[RockRaven]

5. "I didn't mean it antisemitically; I meant it as a very common antisemitic trope"

[mpcamb]

6. "... deeply entrenched in our country." Deeply entrenched in trump. It's not like his antisemitism is new.

[Submariner]

7. Has the Anti-Defamation League

Last edited Fri Jul 4, 2025, 12:13 PM - Edit history (1)

commented yet about the symbolism of the purposely anti-semitic 88-foot heil hitler flag poles installed on the White House lawn to thrill his base, tiki-torch sissies, proud punks, J6 pardoned cop beaters, and likely most of the other 77 million racist scum that voted for that racist asshole?

I sue hope so, because Schumer has either gone silent, or is just too lazy to do the job anymore.

[yardwork]

12. Are they really 88 feet tall?

[Submariner]

15. Trump installs pair of 88-foot-tall new flag poles at the White House

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/06/18/trump-flag-poles-white-house/84257902007/

[yardwork]

16. Whoa!! Why hasn't anybody talked about THAT?!

[Behind the Aegis]

41. I can tell you why. Well actually, you kind of already answered it on the other thread about this topic.

"Jews get blamed for "complaining" about antisemitism and destroying universities." post #9

The first part of that sentence is one possible reason why the ADL wouldn't respond to something like that, especially without any proof. It would be one more way for people, not all on the right as witnessed here, to claim Jews are "crying wolf". Of course, anytime someone says something anti-Semitic, even if a right-wing nut job, there are those who weave and dodge and concern themselves MORE with why aren't these or those Jews condemning it.

It has become more and more obvious to me and several others, including true allies, like yourself, that anti-Semitism isn't the real problem, calling it out is!

(feel better! check out the recs I gave ya!)

[Hekate]

43. So Chuck Schumer is lazy and silent? Do you have sources for this?

[Submariner]

59. No source other than my own observation

of a senator who seems to show up once a week or so, and barely rebuts the daily litany of lies coming out of the trump rage machine. No daily rapid response team to rebut the lies, so the seemingly laid back attitude of Schumer's office is bothering the crap out of me.

[Hekate]

60. He's not my Senator, but I hear him speak out from time to time. I see more of Schiff & Padilla,..

…but that’s doubtless because they are my Senators and I am attuned to them.

[Ritabert]

9. Does anybody think he ever read "The Merchant of Venice"?

[MLWR]

11. I'd bet good money that he not only never read it,

but that he never even heard of it and has only a vague notion of who Wm Shakespeare was.

[Ritabert]

21. Bingo!

[Jack Valentino]

62. Trump thinks Shakespeare was a character on Star Trek....

'maybe the one with the pointy ears'

[yardwork]

13. Doesn't matter. That term means "Jewish moneylender."

It just does.

[Ritabert]

22. But it shows how uninformed he us

[yardwork]

24. I think both are correct. He's utterly uninformed but not about that.

Trump is highly informed about bigoted jabs. They all are. Stupid ignorant smirking jeering fools but they know all the "clever" cracks about anybody remotely different from them.

[RockRaven]

18. He's never even *watched* it.

No chance in hell he could sit through 2 hours of Shakespearean dialogue, for one.

Also, his excuse/explanation reveals that fact. The play has nothing to do with interest rates.

[Ritabert]

23. He's seriously uninformed

[Ocelot II]

26. We can be sure he's never read "The Merchant of Venice" or anything else by Shakespeare,

but the meaning behind the use of the name Shylock is so well-known that it's hard to believe he didn't know that character has long been the anti-semitic image of the greedy Jewish money-lender. Of course he knows; he just doesn't care.

[Ritabert]

34. If he knows the term he's trying to hide his antisemitism

...given his buddy Netanyahu wouldn't be too happy with him.

[Hekate]

44. It's such a common trope even grade school dropouts know the term, just like they know the N-word

[Ritabert]

48. Then he's feigning ignorance

Last edited Fri Jul 4, 2025, 07:08 PM - Edit history (1)

[Hekate]

53. What else would you expect?

[Jack Valentino]

63. Well, I don't remember ever hearing that term in my life...

maybe if I had ever hung around with some serious antisemitics I would have heard it, but I didn't and I didn't.

Now, I guess I am less "ill-informed"...

[Hekate]

65. It's casual, based on "everybody knows" that "Jews are tight-fisted" ...

It shows up in the damndest places. I was helping out an old friend with her estate sale, and some of the helpers were women I hadn’t met before. One said that sometimes buyers “try to Jew you down. “

She wasn’t saying that prospective buyers were of the Jewish faith. She was riffing on a commonly-held antisemitic trope that anyone looking for a bargain or wanting to dicker over a price was acting “like Jews,” who “everybody knows” are grasping and ungenerous in their dealings with others. And pushy, too.

That’s all.

[Jack Valentino]

66. I am familiar with that 'concept', just not the term 'Shylock'...

although Trump claimed he didn't know what it meant,
he then went on to perfectly describe what it apparently means,
didn't he...

[eppur_se_muova]

10. Oh, if only there were some well-educated, competent aides to proofread his speeches and check stuff like this !

How -- HOW -- did previous Presidents ever manage to deal with all these oddities and idiosyncrasies in the English language ?

Actually, I'm sure their speeches are full of stuff like this, it's just that nobody ever looks for them the same way they're always picking on Turnip.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

17. "Troubling and irresponsible," the @ADL responds to @POTUS using the trope 'Shylock.'

Link to tweet

[Paladin]

19. trump, again benefitting from being a dumbfuck and having an incompetent staff. (nt)

[Joinfortmill]

20. Trump is uninformed, unsophisticated, unread, and under educated. He also lies.

[VMA131Marine]

25. I actually believe Trump this time

I’m sure he’s never read Shakespeare much less be able to understand it even if he did. He probably read the Cliff’s Notes.

[AloeVera]

27. It's not really about Shakespeare, though.

It's about either being so ignorant as to not recognize an anti-semitic trope or knowing about it and using it nonetheless for nefarious reasons, like dog whistling to the anti-semites in his base. Either way it's bad for a president but the second is worse and I think that's what he's doing. Of course he is that stupid that the first option is plausible too.

[Retrograde]

29. I have heard "Shylock" used to refer to a non-Jewish moneylender

but that was on the TV show, "The Sopranos", in which one Italian-American character who was a loan shark was called a lady Shylock. But the characters on this show tended to be poorly educated, ignorant, very insular and usually couldn't look past the money aspect: for most people the term has anti-Semitic connotations.

[Behind the Aegis]

33. That use is meant to IMPLY the non-Jew is acting like a Jew.

"He Jewed me on the price." or "He will Jew you down." don't mean the "he" is a Jew, but rather, "acts" like a Jew obsessed with money and getting a deal at any cost (a pound of flesh) .

[Wiz Imp]

45. Exactly

[JoseBalow]

28. He always plays dumb whenever he's called on his bullshit

His shtick is old and tired, and everyone is on to it.

[CTyankee]

30. And you know what? Trumpies don't care.

They know anti-semitic tropes; they've been using them for ages. With a wink and a nod....

[Grokenstein]

31. Cueball Miller probably whispered it in his ear.

[Bluestocking]

32. The Orthodox Jewish community that supports him

Will give him a pass on this. If a Dem had said that the right media would be calling for impeachment.

[Hekate]

51. If so, it's for the same reason Evangelical Christians & Orthodox Jews agree on certain things...

…like “restoration of the Biblical boundaries of Israel. “ The true goal is not of this world, but of the world-to-come. The goal is to fulfill the conditions of the prophecies that drive them, so that the Messiah will come (or come again) . They each believe God speaks to only them, so a bit of discomfort is not the issue. The Evangelicals have made it plain that any unconverted Jew will burn in Hell for eternity but are happy to work toward a common goal in the meanwhile. The Orthodox know that the Evangelicals are totally wrong, but they also know that they have great numbers and political power in the US.

[tanyev]

58. Probably also his favorite daughter (and convert to Judaism) and her husband Jared.

😒

[MrsMatt]

35. He's lying. N/t

[Martin68]

36. While I don't usually believe a word Trump says, I do believe he could very well be totally ignorant of the origin of

the name "Shylock." I also suspect he is anti-semitic.

[Wiz Imp]

46. Not a chance. He knows full and well that it is antisemitic.

[SCantiGOP]

37. I've been saying for 10 years

The problem the public has with evaluating trump is that the corruption is so staggering that it obscures just how ignorant he is.
I would love to see someone ask Trump if he had ever read, or was familiar with, The Merchant of Venice.

[Beartracks]

38. To be fair, Trump is a simple and incurious man who never considers context or consequences.

Given his social circles, he likely heard the word used in this manner during his formative years, but couldn't be bothered to put 2 and 2 together about where it came from.

================

[Wiz Imp]

47. BS. It was a purposeful dog whistle.

[twodogsbarking]

39. He probably didn't know but he says far worse things when he does know. Ya know.

[Wiz Imp]

49. There is absolutely no question that he knows it's antisemitic

[Sneederbunk]

40. Has no problem playing stupid.

[Bluejeans]

42. When I was growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s and early 1970s

When I was growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s and early 1970s the terms "Shylock" and "Shy" referred to Mafia loan sharks and their extortionate interest rates (aka "the vig&quot ; not Jewish people.

I never heard those terms were antisemitic slurs until I read the news stories this morning.

[Henry203]

55. I grew up in NY

And everyone knew it was a slur.

[Wiz Imp]

50. See post #33

[Jrose]

56. I'm sure Eloon, DJT's on-off pal, is zig-heiling secretly

in support of DJT's leaked slur.
DJT never did criticize Eloon for throwing Nazi salutes during his inaugural celebrations.

[Solly Mack]

57. Bullshit. He knew.

[Jack Valentino]

61. I don't recall ever hearing the word before, but I never read "The Merchant of Venice" .....

and I very much doubt that Trump has, either---
so I am very curious where he heard the word used--- !

Maybe from his staff, or his father

[ananda]

64. The sad thing is that could actually be true, but...

it's also true that it could've been inserted in the speech
without Trump's knowledge.