Trump Faces Backlash After Using Antisemitic Slur at Kansas Rally
President Donald Trump is under fire for invoking an antisemitic slur while speaking at a campaign rally in Kansas. Here is a look at what the president said, why it is considered offensive, and how some advocacy groups responded to the comment.
President Trump Invokes Antisemitic Slur in Kansas
With less than two weeks to go until the November 3 midterms, President Trump has hit the campaign trail in the hopes of pushing some Republicans over the finish line. Trump was in Park City, Kansas, on Monday evening speaking at an event intended to drive the vote toward GOP Sen. Roger Marshall.
While speaking at the event in the suburb of Wichita, Trump used a word that has been identified as an antisemitic slur by the Anti-Defamation League. The topic came up as Trump was addressing allegations by Democrats that Marshall had sued his patients for medical debt when he was working as an obstetrician-gynecologist.
"They made it like, oh, he was some kind of a shylock guy," Trump told the crowd. The incumbent senator running for reelection is not Jewish, making the term seem even more out of place.
This is not the first rally that Trump has used this word. In July of 2025, the president described some bankers as "shylocks" when speaking at an event in Iowa. That comment immediately drew the ire of anti-bigotry groups, including the Anti-Defamation League. The group responded to the president's speech by writing, "President Trump's use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible." The statement went on to say that "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."
Although the Anti-Defamation League posted a new statement on Tuesday after the most recent use of the word, it did not specifically call out the president. Instead, the group took a more indirect approach, writing that "The term 'Shylock' is rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype. Regardless of intent, its use can reinforce harmful tropes about Jews and normalize language that has long been used to target the Jewish community."
Origins of the Term
The term has its origins in the name of a character in William Shakespeare's play The Merchant of Venice. Merriam-Webster dictionary notes that the word has evolved to now be considered offensive. The dictionary said that the term is "understood to be rooted in ancient anti-semitic stereotypes."
Trump claimed that he had never known that the word was considered to be antisemitic after he was questioned by reporters for using it in 2025. He defended using the term by explaining that "The meaning of shylock is somebody that's a moneylender at high rates. You view it differently. I've never heard that."
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs addressed Trump's most recent comments with a post on X on Tuesday. The national advocacy coalition for Jewish communities wrote, "A year after being called out for using the antisemitic term 'Shylock' and claiming he didn’t know it was problematic, Trump has used it again. This is not an accident. Normalizing antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories is deeply dangerous."
President Trump is not the only political leader to come under scrutiny for using the term. In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden described bankers preying on American troops stationed overseas by saying that “these shylocks who took advantage of these women and men."
What has already been a nasty election cycle on both sides of the aisle has become even more hostile over the past few weeks. Political pundits warn that the rhetoric is only going to get worse in the homestretch as candidates fight to win over the independent voters and drive out the vote with their base.
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