The United States of America President Donald Trump has faced immense backlash across the social media over his antisemitic marks to describe some bankers during a speech on his massive domestic policy bill. The President called the bankers as “shylocks and bad people.”

Why the Shylock word generated controversy?

The character Shylock is an antagonist in the play The Merchant of Venice by English playwright and poet William Shakespeare. Shylock is a Jewish moneylender who demands a pound of flesh from another character, Antonio, if he cannot repay his loan. Ultimately, he loses the court case against Antonio and forced to convert to Christianity. This play has sparked controversy amongst the public on whether it is antisemitic or not.

Trump remains ignorant about his antisemitic remarks

Currently, the USA President has not apologized for his antisemitic remarks. Instead, Trump has pleaded ignorance and said that he didn’t knew that his remarks were offensive to the Jewish people. He added, “I’ve never heard it that way. The meaning of Shylock is somebody that’s a money lender at high rates. You view it differently. I’ve never heard that.”

Donald Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had apologized for his antisemitic remarks

In stark contrast to Trump, the then Vice-President in 2014, Joe Biden had apologized when he used the similar words (said by Trump recently) and called it a poor choice of words. Meanwhile, Trump has disseminated stereotypes against Jews in 2024 as well during an interview. The USA President said that any Jewish person who votes for Democrats hates their religion. He had added that they hate everything about Israel and they should be ashamed of themselves because Israel will be destroyed.

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