President Donald Trump employed a term often used as a slur against Jewish people as he blasted bankers during a speech in Iowa on Thursday evening. The remark came as he was touting tax cuts in his so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” which Congress passed earlier in the day.
“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,” Trump said, adding, “They destroyed a lot of families, but we did the opposite.”
The term “shylock” traces back to a Jewish character in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice. That portrayal was widely seen as a negative stereotype associating Jews with unethical money lending. The term has been considered a slur for years and has previously caused political controversy, including when it was used by then-Vice President Joe Biden in 2014.
Trump made his comments while speaking in Des Moines, Iowa at a “Salute to America” celebration ahead of the Independence Day holiday. Much of his remarks, which are ongoing as of this writing, touted his “Big Beautiful Bill,” which included tax cuts and an increased budget for immigration enforcement along with steep cuts to social programs including Medicaid and SNAP.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s remarks.
