Donald Trump Sparks Outrage With 'Shylock' Slur at Iowa Rally, Claims Ignorance of Antisemitic Roots

"No death tax. No estate tax," he addressed the audience. "No going to the banks and borrowing from, in some cases, a fine banker and in some cases, Shylocks and bad people."

"They destroyed a lot of families," he continued, "but we did the opposite."

The term "Shylock" originates from William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, where the Jewish character is portrayed as a greedy moneylender. This stereotype has perpetuated antisemitic caricatures for centuries.

On Air Force One after the rally, Trump insisted he was unaware of the word's connotations.

"I've never heard it that way," he told reporters. "The meaning of Shylock is somebody that's a money lender at high rates. You view it differently. I've never heard that."

Abe Foxman, former director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), suggested that Trump's ignorance might be genuine. "I think today, it's a term used primarily based on ignorance," he told The Washington Post. "But it continues to be seen by Jews as an antisemitic term, regardless of how you use it. The president of the United States should know better."

Jewish advocacy groups and elected officials quickly condemned Trump's comments. Amy Spitalnick of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs took to X, tweeting that Trump's use of the term was "not an accident."

"Shylock is among the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes. This is not an accident. It follows years in which Trump has normalized antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories — and it's deeply dangerous," she wrote.

Halie Soifer of the Jewish Democratic Council of America also responded, stating, "Donald Trump just referred to bankers using a centuries-old antisemitic slur & trope. No wonder 52 percent of American Jewish voters believe he's antisemitic."