Donald Trump has been accused of using “blatant and vile” antisemitic language at a campaign-style speech at a rally in Iowa.
The president was speaking in Des Moines on Thursday, just hours after the House passed his cornerstone tax and spending bill.
In his “Salute to America” address, Trump railed against “Shylocks” as he took a swipe at the Democrats for uniformly opposing the legislation.
“No death tax. No estate tax,” Trump began. “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, but we did the opposite,” he added.
His comments drew condemnation from Jewish leaders, who claimed his use of the slur was no accident.
Here’s what that term means, and how people have reacted.
What does Shylock mean and why is it offensive?
The term ‘Shylock’ comes from a villainous character in the play by William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice.
Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who demands a pound of flesh from another character, Antonio, if they cannot repay his loan. Ultimately, he is thwarted and forced to convert to Christianity.
The play itself has generated debate for hundreds of years over whether it is antisemitic. While it is classified as one of Shakespeare’s comedies, much of its tone is more dramatic and often divisive.
The prominent American literary critic Harold Bloom once wrote: “One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to recognize that Shakespeare’s grand, equivocal comedy ‘The Merchant of Venice’ is nevertheless a profoundly anti-Semitic work.”
Shylock has been played in starkly different ways by performers over the years – sometimes as a repulsive character, driven by a desire for revenge, others as a more sympathetic figure.
But many see Shylock as an offensive stereotype about Jewish people and money, and the name has become a slur to describe loansharks who lend money at extortionate rates.
According to the Smithsonian Magazine, the play was a favourite in Nazi Germany, with more than 50 productions put on in the country between 1933 and 1939.
Kevin Madigan, a professor of Christian history at Harvard Divinity School pointed out that in one Berlin production of the play, the director “ planted extras in the audiences to shout and whistle when Shylock appeared, thus cuing the audience to do the same,” the Smithsonian magazine reported.
What has the reaction to Trump’s comments been?
The Anti-Defamation League said the term “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.
“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.”
Amy Spitalnick of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs said Trump’s use of the term was “not an accident.”
“Shylock is among the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes,” she tweeted.
New York Representative Daniel Goldman said it was “blatant and vile antisemitism, and Trump knows exactly what he’s doing.”
California Rep. Eric Swalwell called on the ADL to take action, adding that if they “cannot condemn this, they should pack it up.” He later shared an update that the league had condemned the president’s comments.
Have other senior American leaders used that term?
Yes, most notably Joe Biden when he was vice president in 2014.
Speaking at a Legal Services Corporation event, he used the term to describe lenders taking advantage of service men and women while they were overseas.
Later, Biden acknowledged it “was a poor choice of words” after the ADL said the then-vice president “should have been more careful”.
What has Trump said about it?
Flying back to Washington D.C. on Air Force One, the president said he had “never heard that” the word was considered antisemitic, and offered his own definition of the term.
“I’ve never heard it that way,” he said. “The meaning of Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates. You view it differently. I’ve never heard that.”
