United States President Donald Trump has professed ignorance about a term he used that is widely considered anti-Semitic, explaining that he did not know it had that meaning.<\/p>\n
In the early morning hours of Friday, the Republican leader addressed the controversy around the term \u201cShylock\u201d, which he used to describe unscrupulous bankers hours earlier.<\/p>\n
The term, however, originates from the 16th-century play The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, which includes a depiction of a Jewish moneylender that some consider to be deeply anti-Semitic. The character\u2019s name, Shylock, has been adopted as a pejorative for loan sharks, particularly those of Jewish faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I\u2019ve never heard it that way. To be Shylock is somebody that, say, a money lender at high rates,\u201d Trump told reporters on Air Force One, the presidential plane. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard it that way. You view it differently than me. I\u2019ve never heard that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump used the term while visiting Iowa on Thursday for the kickoff of his \u201cAmerica250\u201d celebration series, a string of events that will culminate in the 250th anniversary of the US in 2026.<\/p>\n
While addressing a crowd at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Trump played up his success earlier in the day with the passage of his signature budget mega-bill, which he refers to as the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d.<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives had passed a revised version of the bill<\/a> in a final, party-line vote of 218 to 214, over objections that it would raise the national deficit and slash social safety-net programmes like Medicaid.<\/p>\n Trump, however, had played up the fact that the mega-bill would allow his 2017 tax cuts to continue, while also raising exemptions under the estate tax \u2014 the tax on property transferred upon the death of a loved one.<\/p>\n \u201cThink 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,\u201d Trump told the Iowa crowd.<\/p>\n The Anti-Defamation League, a group established to fight anti-Semitism, denounced Trump\u2019s use of the term on Friday, pointing to its long history as a slur.<\/p>\n \u201cThe term \u2018Shylock\u2019 evokes a centuries-old antisemitic trope about Jews and greed that is extremely offensive and dangerous. President Trump\u2019s use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible,\u201d the group wrote in a statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Thursday\u2019s speech was not the first time Trump and his associates have faced accusations of anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n On the first day of Trump\u2019s second term as president, then-ally Elon Musk gave a speech at a rally at the Capital One Arena that culminated with him slapping his chest and then extending his arm outwards with a flattened palm \u2014 a gesture<\/a> that many people interpreted as a Nazi-style salute.<\/p>\n Trump himself has faced scrutiny for hosting a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago estate<\/a> with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and the rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, both of whom have been accused of spreading anti-Semitism.<\/p>\n The president was also criticised for downplaying the 2017 Unite the Right rally<\/a> in Charlottesville, Virginia, where white supremacist participants chanted, \u201cJews will not replace us.\u201d Trump described the rally and its counterprotest by saying there were \u201cvery fine people on both sides\u201d.<\/p>\n