Donald Trump has maintained his place as the top headline maker for the past few weeks given the controversies surrounding his health, his Big Beautiful Bill and reignited feud with Elon Musk.
Trump is already famous for making big speeches and using terms and words that are highly controversial. Something similar happened on July 3 at his ‘Salute to America’ speech in Des Moines.
While talking about ‘death tax’ rules that were approved in the spending bill, Trump referred to dishonest bankers, using a highly antisemitic slur.
He said, “But if you love them or if you love somebody that you’re leaving it to, think of that 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. But they took away a lot of families. They destroyed a lot of families, but we did the opposite.”
For context, Shylock is a character from Shakespear’s Merchant of Venice, who is a Jewish moneylender with a ruthless strategy of demanding a pound of flesh as a collateral. Shylock is one of the worst Jewish stereotypes that reinforce them as greedy and selfish.
Therefore, Trump using this particular term has naturally resulted in backlash as social media users were quick to point this out. One user said, “Horrific anti-Semitism from the president.” Another one added, “Just a casual, antisemitic slur in the middle of a speech?”
President Trump used a term many consider to be an antisemitic slur while referencing unscrupulous bankers during a campaign-style rally in Iowa. Asked about it later, Trump said, “I’ve never heard it that way.” Latest w/@Cat_Zakrzewski https://t.co/NNwvaMp6KP
— Matt Viser (@mviser) July 4, 2025
Amy Spitalnick, of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs also commented on the incident, saying, “Shylock is among the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes. This is not an accident. It follows years in which Trump has normalized antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories — and it’s deeply dangerous.”
Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA) also joined in to criticise Trump for his comments, saying, “Donald Trump just referred to bankers using a centuries-old antisemitic slur and trope. No wonder 52% of American Jewish voters believe he’s antisemitic.”
As reported by Irish Stari, “In 2024, the ADL tabulated 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the United States. This represents a 5% increase from the 8,873 incidents recorded in 2023, a 344% increase over the past five years, and a 893% increase over the past 10 years.” In a situation like this, the President’s comments came as careless and reinforced the Jewish stereotype as established by Shylock’s character.
The event where Trump gave the speech was organized by America250. The festivities started at 5:00 p.m. CDT at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Trump started his speech almost three years after the event started. He had previously hyped up the rally, as he posted on his social media, “Iowa voted for me THREE TIMES, because they love my Policies for our Wonderful Farmers and Small Businesses, and they LOVE AMERICA!”
The post further mentioned, “This will be a very special event, honoring our Great Country, and our Brave Heroes who fought to keep us FREE.” While he did retain his enthusiasm during the speech as well, his anti-semitic slur clearly did not go well though it does not seem that he will be much affected by it.
