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.In the early morning hours of Friday, the Republican leader addressed the controversy around the term “Shylock”, which he used to describe unscrupulous bankers hours earlier.
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’s name, Shylock, has been adopted as a pejorative for loan sharks, particularly those of Jewish faith.
“No, I’ve never heard it that way. To be Shylock is somebody that, say, a money lender at high rates,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, the presidential plane. “I’ve never heard it that way. You view it differently than me. I’ve never heard that.”
Trump used the term while visiting Iowa on Thursday for the kickoff of his “America250” celebration series, a string of events that will culminate in the 250th anniversary of the US in 2026.
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 a …
