President Trump used the term "shylock" at a campaign rally in Park City, Kansas, on Monday night while brushing off reporting that Sen. Roger Marshall sued hundreds of his former medical patients over unpaid bills — reviving a slur with a long history as an antisemitic stereotype, even though Marshall is not Jewish.

Speaking at Heartland Credit Union Arena in support of Marshall's reelection bid, Trump dismissed the lawsuits story by telling the crowd Marshall had been unfairly painted as "a shylock-type guy." Marshall, an OB-GYN before entering politics, sued more than 700 patients over unpaid bills, according to a New York Times review of court records, leading to 81 arrests over missed court dates.

Not the First Time

"Shylock" takes its name from the Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" and has functioned for centuries as shorthand tying Jewish people to greed and predatory lending. Trump used the same word in July 2025 at a rally in Iowa, where he described some bankers as "shylocks" — drawing swift condemnation from anti-bigotry groups at the time.

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said Trump had already been confronted once over the language and "has consistently normalized antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes." The Anti-Defamation League issued a statement Tuesday — without naming Trump directly — saying the term "is rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype" whose use "can reinforce harmful tropes regardless of intent."

"ROOTED IN A LONGSTANDING ANTISEMITIC STEREOTYPE"

After the 2025 episode, Trump said he didn't realize some considered the word antisemitic, telling reporters he'd "never heard that" and understood shylock simply to mean a high-rate money lender. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday night's remarks, according to CNN's report on the rally.

The rally was Trump's highest-profile intervention yet in a Kansas Senate race both parties now consider competitive — a notable shift in a state that hasn't sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1932. Marshall faces Democrat Adam Hamilton, a pastor, in a contest that has increasingly centered on the medical-debt lawsuits rather than the usual midterm fare. Trump told the crowd Marshall had gotten "a bum rap" over the suits; Marshall's campaign has not disavowed the president's word choice.

What's Next

Marshall and Hamilton head into the final stretch before Election Day, with both national parties now pouring money into a race few expected to be close a year ago. Whether Trump's remark becomes a liability for Marshall — or fades into the broader churn of the midterm campaign — will likely become clearer in the final two weeks.