July 4 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Friday said he wasn't aware a term he uttered at a rally in Iowa the night before, "Shylock," was anti-Semitic.
Trump spoke at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, marking the kickoff to nationwide celebrations marking the country's 250th anniversary next year.
"I've never heard it that way. To me, Shylock is somebody that's a money lender at high rates," Trump told reporters after getting off Air Force One early Friday before returning to the White House. "I've never heard it that way. You view it differently than me. I've never heard that."
Trump, who often deviates from a Teleprompter, used the word when touting the spending bill by Congress a few hours earlier.
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"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," he said. "They took away a lot of, a lot of family. They destroyed a lot of families, but we did the opposite."
"Shylock" was an antagonist in William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice published in 1600.
The Jew was a ruthless moneylender. He demanded a "pound of flesh" from the merchant Antonio if he didn't repay a loan.
In 2015, Trump told the Republican Jewish Coalition that he did not want their money. He also has shown memes on social media with anti-Semitic symbols.
Trump has been aligned with Jewish people.
"Anybody who's Jewish and loves being Jewish and loves Israel is a fool if they vote for a Democrat," Trump said at the Israeli-American Council summit on Sept. 24 during his presidential campaign against Vice President Kamala Harris. "You should have your head examined."
Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is Jewish, and his daughter, Ivanka, converted to Judaism, and their children are being raised Jewish.
Trump has signed executive orders against anti-Semitism, and withheld billions of dollars in grants to Harvard because he said the private school was violating the civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students and wasn't adequately addressing anti-Semitism on campus.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has consistently praised Trump during both terms, is scheduled to be welcomed to the White House again on Monday.
Jack O'Donnell, a former executive with the Trump Organization, claimed Trump preferred "short guys that wear yarmulkes every day" to count his money.
The Anti-Defamation League condemned Trump's use of the word Friday morning.
"The term 'Shylock' evokes a centuries-old antisemitic trope about Jews and greed that is extremely offensive and dangerous," the Anti-Defamation League posted Friday on X. "President Trump's use of the term is very troubling and irresponsible. 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."
Rep. Daniel Goldman of New York, who is Jewish, wrote on X: "This is blatant and vile anti-Semitism, and Trump knows exactly what he's doing. Anyone who truly opposes anti-Semitism calls it out wherever it occurs -- on both extremes -- as I do."
In 2014, then-Vice President Joe Biden apologized for using the word while recalling anecdotes from his son's experience serving in Iraq and meeting members of the military in need of legal help because of problems back at home.
"I mean these Shylocks who took advantage of, um, these women and men while overseas," he said at a speech to the Legal Services Corp.
Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden was deployed for one year in Iraq.
Abraham Foxman, the ADL's national director at the time, said Biden "should have been more careful."
"When someone as friendly to the Jewish community and open and tolerant an individual as is Vice President Joe Biden, uses the term 'Shylocked' to describe unscrupulous moneylenders dealing with service men and women, we see once again how deeply embedded this stereotype about Jews is in society," Foxman said.
