Former President Donald Trump used a phrase with longstanding antisemitic connotations while defending Senator Roger Marshall, a first-term Republican from Kansas, at a campaign rally on Monday. Speaking in Park City, Kansas, Trump addressed recent criticism of Marshall’s debt-collection practices, invoking the term “Shylock” to dismiss allegations against the senator.
Marshall, who is seeking re-election, has come under scrutiny following reports that during his prior career as an obstetrician-gynecologist, he filed lawsuits against more than 700 patients over unpaid medical bills, sometimes charging interest rates as high as 18 percent and using wage garnishments. Trump did not mention the publication by name but responded to accusations that Marshall had been portrayed as a predatory moneylender.
In referring to Marshall’s detractors, Trump said they had unfairly characterized the senator as “some kind of a Shylock-type guy,” a reference to the Jewish moneylender Shylock from Shakespeare’s *The Merchant of Venice*. The character is widely recognized as a symbol associated with antisemitic stereotypes of greed and exploitation. Trump insisted that Marshall was simply enforcing legal obligations to collect debts from patients, stating, “You have to, by law, go after those people.”
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) condemned Trump’s use of the term on Tuesday, emphasizing that "Shylock" is embedded in a deeply offensive antisemitic stereotype. The organization noted that regardless of intent, the term perpetuates harmful tropes about Jewish people and normalizes language historically used to target the Jewish community.
This is not the first time Trump has used the phrase publicly. During a rally last year in Iowa, he referred to lenders as “Shylocks and bad people.” At that time, Trump said he was unaware of the term’s antisemitic origins, stating, "You view it differently than me. I’ve never heard that." His remarks then drew swift criticism from Jewish leaders and lawmakers, including Representative Jerry Nadler, who described it as "one of the most recognizable antisemitic slurs in the English language."
The controversy comes as the Kansas Senate race has tightened considerably. Marshall faces Democrat Adam Hamilton, a megachurch pastor who could become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas since 1932. Hamilton’s campaign has highlighted Marshall’s debt-collection record in political ads, some featuring a former patient who claimed she was arrested over a $50 debt while eight months pregnant. Marshall’s legal team has labeled such ads defamatory, though they continue to be aired.
Past political figures have also faced backlash for using similar language. In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden apologized after employing the term in a speech.
Trump’s remarks arise amid ongoing efforts by Republicans to appeal to Jewish voters disillusioned with the Democratic Party’s stance on Israel and antisemitism. Republican leaders have increasingly sought to portray their party as supportive of Israel while criticizing Democrats on these issues. Meanwhile, Trump and his campaign have repeatedly been accused of courting racists and antisemites—charges they deny. In the 2016 presidential race, Trump shared a widely condemned image on social media that was linked to antisemitic and white supremacist groups.