Trump uses 'Shylock' term at Kansas rally while defending Sen. Roger Marshall

President Donald Trump used a term widely regarded as an antisemitic slur during a Monday night rally in Park City, Kansas, a Wichita suburb, while defending Republican Sen. Roger Marshall against criticism of his past debt-collection practices.

Trump told the crowd that Marshall had been legally required to pursue patients who owed money and that critics had unfairly portrayed him as "some kind of a Shylock-type guy," according to The Philadelphia Inquirer, which published a New York Times report. Shylock is the Jewish moneylender in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, and the name has long served as shorthand for antisemitic stereotypes about greed.

The Inquirer reported that the remark appeared to respond to Times reporting that Marshall, a former obstetrician-gynecologist, sued more than 700 patients over unpaid bills, often charging 18% annual interest. The outlet noted that doctors are not legally required to sue patients over unpaid bills.

The Anti-Defamation League said on Tuesday that the term is rooted in a longstanding antisemitic stereotype and can reinforce harmful tropes regardless of intent, the Inquirer reported.

KWCH 12 reported that Jewish leaders in Wichita condemned the remark. "Even if he does not realize it, it is an attack on Jewish people in Wichita and everywhere," Peter Grant, a member of the local Jewish community, told the station.

Both outlets noted that Trump used the term at a 2025 rally in Iowa. According to the Inquirer, he said afterward that he had not known it was a slur.

Marshall faces Democrat Adam Hamilton, a United Methodist pastor, in a race the Inquirer described as one of the tightest of the midterms. Hamilton has made Marshall's debt-collection record a focus of campaign ads, one of which Marshall's lawyers called defamatory.

At the same rally, Trump reaffirmed his endorsement of Republican Ty Masterson for Kansas governor and repeatedly criticized Democratic nominee Cindy Holscher, calling her radical, the Kansas Reflector reported. Holscher responded that name-calling does nothing for Kansans facing higher costs for fuel, groceries and health care, the outlet reported.

Separately, ABC7 New York reported that a 24-year-old Kansas man was arrested Saturday in Clearwater, Kansas, accused of posting Facebook comments threatening to shoot Trump at the rally, according to the Justice Department. Prosecutors did not say whether any firearms were recovered or whether he had taken steps toward the planning he allegedly described. Trump did not mention the case during the event, ABC7 reported.

Compiled by True News from reporting by KWCH 12, Kansas Reflector, The Philadelphia Inquirer and ABC7 New York. Each outlet's original story is linked below.

Originally published by True News: https://truenews.bagleyenterprises.net/stories/305