President Donald Trump reinvoked an antisemitic slur at a rally Monday while defending Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., against reporting that he sued patients for medical debt as an obstetrician-gynecologist.
"They made it like, oh, he was some kind of a shylock guy," Trump said to a crowd of Republicans in Kansas. Marshall, who is running for reelection, is not Jewish.
This is not the first time that Trump has used the word, deemed an antisemitic slur by the Anti-Defamation League, at a rally. In July 2025, at an event in Iowa kicking off America 250 celebrations, Trump described some bankers as "shylocks," sparking condemnation by anti-bigotry groups.
President Donald Trump and Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., greet each other Monday during a rally in Park City, Kan.
"President Trump's use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible," wrote the Anti-Defamation League in a July 2025 statement. "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."
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The Anti-Defamation League posted a statement on Tuesday, but this time left out the president's name: "The term 'Shylock' is rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype. Regardless of intent, its use can reinforce harmful tropes about Jews and normalize language that has long been used to target the Jewish community."
The term, capitalized, comes from the name of a moneylender character in William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. The Merriam-Webster dictionary says that the term has evolved to now be "considered offensive" and "understood to be rooted in ancient anti-semitic stereotypes."
President Donald Trump reacts during a rally in support of Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., in Park City, Kan.
When questioned by reporters after his 2025 use of the word, Trump claimed he “never heard that” the word is considered antisemitic and defended himself, adding that "The meaning of shylock is somebody that's a money lender at high rates. You view it differently. I've never heard that."
The White House didn’t respond to USA Today's request for comment about his use of the word this week.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a national advocacy coalition for Jewish communities, weighed in Tuesday, posting on social media that, "A year after being called out for using the antisemitic term 'Shylock' and claiming he didn’t know it was problematic, Trump has used it again. This is not an accident. Normalizing antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories is deeply dangerous."
In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden also used the term, saying “these shylocks who took advantage of these women and men," when describing bankers catering to American troops overseas.
