Patrick Comerford
President Donald Trump says he is not aware that the word ‘Shylock’ is antisemitic after he used the term at a rally to decry amoral money lenders. In a speech in Iowa marking the beginning of nationwide celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of the United States next year, he used the word ‘Shylock’ when applauded a bill that had been pushed through Congress a few hours earlier.
‘Think of that: no death tax, no estate tax, no going to the banks and borrowings from in some cases a fine banker. And in some cases, Shylocks and bad people,’ rump said in Des Moines. ‘They took away a lot of, a lot of family. They destroyed a lot of families, but we did the opposite.’
The Anti-Defamation League condemned Trump’s use of the word, saying. ‘The term ‘Shylock’ 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,’ the ADL said. ‘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.’
But instead of acknowledging his antisemitic vocabulary, instead of apologising or retracting, Trump said: ‘I’ve never heard it that way. To me, Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates.’ As he arrived back in Washington, he claimed : ‘I’ve never heard it that way, you view it differently than me. I’ve never heard that.’
Amy Spitalnick of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs responded: ‘Shylock is among the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes. This is not an accident. It follows years in which Trump has normalised antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories – and it’s deeply dangerous.’
In response to Trump’s use of the word, 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.’
Some Democrats were quick to criticise Trump’s use of the word. ‘This is blatant and vile antisemitism, and Trump knows exactly what he’s doing,’ Representative Daniel Goldman (New York) said. ‘Anyone who truly opposes antisemitism calls it out wherever it occurs – on both extremes – as I do.’
But Republicans were noticeably silent – as they always are when it comes to Trump’s abominable gaffes and appalling behaviour.
The name ‘Shylock’ comes from the name of the character in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. Shylock in the play is a Jew and a ruthless moneylender who demands a ‘pound of flesh’ from the merchant Antonio if he fails to repay a loan. But Shylock is thwarted and forced to convert to Christianity.
The play has generated debates for hundreds of years about whether it is antisemitic. It is classified as one of Shakespeare’s comedies, but much of its tone is more dramatic and often divisive.
The American literary critic Harold Bloom once wrote: ‘One would have to be blind, deaf and dumb not to recognise that Shakespeare’s grand, equivocal comedy … is nevertheless a profoundly antisemitic work.’
Shylock has been played in starkly different ways over the years – sometimes as a repulsive character, driven by a desire for revenge, other times 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 loan sharks who lend money at extortionate rates.
More than 50 productions of the play were staged in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1939. Kevin Madigan, Professor of Christian History at Harvard Divinity School, has 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.’
Joe Biden apologised after using the term when he was vice president in 2014. Speaking at a Legal Services Corporation event, he used the word to describe lenders taking advantage of members of the military while they were overseas and needed help to deal with problems back at home. ‘I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of, um, these women and men while overseas,’ he said.
Biden apologised within 24 hours, acknowledging it ‘was a poor choice of words’ and the ADL said he ‘should have been more careful’.
Trump has failed to show the same grace or to acknowledge the way he used the woed was offensive. Instead, flying back to Washington DC on Air Force One, Trump said he had ‘never heard that’ the word was considered antisemitic, and then proceeded to offer 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.’
It was nothing less than a stunning display of wilful historical illiteracy by Trump, even though he was drawing on a 400-year-old play. When he was pressed, he shrugged off questions, insisting: ‘To me, a shylock is just some guy who charges too much interest. Like my old casino creditors!’
This is the same Donald Trump who has a stellar track record when it comes to Jewish stereotypes.
This is the same Donald Trump who in 2015 told the Republican Jewish Coalition ‘you guys love controlling politicians with money, right?’
This is the same Donald Trump who in 2022 hosted a dinner with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who believes the Holocaust was ‘overblown’.
This is the same Donald Trump who in 2023 accused Jewish Democrats of ‘disloyalty’ for criticising Netanyahu.
This is the same Donald Trump who called neo-Nazis ‘very fine people’, who pushed the ‘Jewish space lasers’ conspiracy by proxy, who thinks ‘antisemitism’ is just ‘something liberals accuse me of.’
Either Trump is historically illiterate, or he is calculatingly reckless. Now he also wants us to think he is an expert on Shakespeare and that he can provide new dictionary definitions of the words he uses.
Give me a break, please.
Shabbat Shalom, שבת שלום
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