Jewish Republican Congressman Says Trump’s Use of Anti-Semitic Slur Doesn’t Bother Him: ‘I Was Not Offended’
Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) said President Donald Trump’s reference to “shylocks” in a speech on Thursday did not offend him.
Addressing rally-goers in Iowa, Trump used the old-time slur for Jewish moneylenders, which has its origins in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.
“No death tax, no estate tax,” the president told the audience. “No going to the banks and borrowing from – in some cases – a fine banker, in some cases, shylocks and bad people.”
Afterward, a reporter asked Trump about his use of “shylocks.” The president pleaded ignorance, stating that he “never heard that” the term was a slur.
On CNN on Friday, Brianna Keilar asked Kustoff, who is one of four Jewish Republicans in the House, about the remark.
“He says – when he was questioned about this – quote, he’s never heard it that way,” she noted. “What do you think?”
“Well, until you said that people were offended– I was not offended,” he replied. “And until you said that, I wouldn’t. We’ve gotta condemn anti-Semitism. We see it rampant across the nation. We’ve certainly seen it accentuated since October the 7th of 2023 across the country.”
“Why doesn’t that term offend you?” Keilar pressed. “I just wanna be clear. The Anti-Defamation League, as it called out President Biden for using the word in 2014, has called out President Trump as well and said that we should expect better from a president. Why doesn’t that offend you?”
“Until you mentioned it, I didn’t even think about it,” Kustoff responded. “So, I think that when we see the people say words and they intend for it to mean what it means, anti-Semitic remarks, anti-Semitic sentiment, then obviously we’ve gotta call it out.”
After an exchange about Trump’s crackdown on college campuses using anti-Semitism as a pretext, Keilar asked, “Do you think it’s a good idea to use this word in general in political discourse?”
Kustoff replied, “Well, again, I didn’t take any offense when I heard it.”
Watch above via CNN.
