At a Thursday night rally in Des Moines, Iowa, President Trump casually used an antisemitic slur while talking about estate taxes—a moment he made no attempt to correct or walk back.
He was celebrating his budget and tax bill, which permanently raises the estate tax exemption to $15 million so families can pass down farms and businesses without losing them.
“Before Trump, you were losing farms to the banks,” he told the crowd. “Before Trump… you leave everything to your children, and they have to pay a big estate tax or a death tax… And they couldn’t do it. They go out and borrow money from a bank to prevent foreclosure. That can happen.”
Then, with no pause, he said: “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.”
“Shylocks” is a loaded term. It comes from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, where Shylock is a Jewish moneylender. For centuries, it’s been used as a derogatory stereotype against Jewish people—especially around money.
The Anti-Defamation League condemned Trump’s use of the word, calling it “extremely offensive and dangerous,” and blasted the remark as “very troubling and irresponsible.”
Trump later told reporters he “never heard it that way,” claiming he thought “Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates” and denying any insulting intent.
Critics didn’t buy it. Amy Spitalnick of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs said, “Shylock is among the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes… This is not an accident.”
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