Trump uses antisemitic term 'Shylock' at Kansas rally while defending Sen. Marshall's medical billing lawsuits
President Trump used the term "Shylock" at a Kansas rally while defending Republican Sen. Roger Marshall against criticism over lawsuits filed against more than 700 patients for unpaid medical bills during his time as an OB-GYN. Trump used the same term at an Iowa rally in July 2025, after which he told reporters he was unaware it was considered antisemitic. The Anti-Defamation League responded Tuesday, stating the term is "rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype."
Single source · Not corroborated
At a rally in Kansas on Monday, President Trump invoked the term "Shylock" while defending Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) over reporting — first published by The New York Times — that Marshall sued more than 700 patients for outstanding medical bills during his career as an obstetrician-gynecologist.
"You're not allowed not to do it. You have to, by law, go after those people, and they made it like, oh, he was some kind of a Shylock-type guy," Trump said, according to CNN. Trump added that Marshall would have been "breaking a very strong criminal law" and "subject to criminal arrest and liability" had he not pursued the outstanding debts.
This was not the first time Trump used the term publicly. CNN reported he said it at a rally in Iowa in July 2025. When asked about it at the time, Trump told reporters, "I've never heard it that way. To me, Shylock is somebody that's a money lender at high rates. I've never heard that." He said he did not know the word was viewed by some as antisemitic.