“You speak good English!” Trump tells native speaker of English

Breaking: Prez ignorant of “Merchant of Venice” also ignorant of Liberian history.

I recently argued that there was no way that President Trump knew the antisemitic connotations of the term “shylock” because that would require knowing something about The Merchant of Venice. My argument was that when dealing with an unlettered person, the simplest, Occam’s Razor-y explanation for any behavior is “He has no idea what he is talking about.”

Now, strictly speaking, one could think that “shylock” alludes to Jewish money lenders even if one didn’t know the reason it refers to Jewish money lenders is that there was once this character in Shakespeare… And indeed, several of you wrote to make that point: that whether or not Trump knows his Bard, he can still know the gist of the insult that derives from the Bard. (Voice in my ear, either Strunk & White or some writing teacher I once had, saying, “Don’t call Shakespeare ‘the Bard,’ and don’t call the pope ‘the pontiff.’” Point taken, voice in my ear.)

I take that point.

I also take the point, shared by my friend

Andy Bachman

, that Trump has a history of slurring ethnic groups, so perhaps we should assume that’s what happened here, too. Bachman didn’t mention this story, but it’s too good to pass up. I quote from a book by John O’Connell, who worked at one of Trump’s casinos:

I said I was familiar with [the black employee’s] abilities, and he had shortcomings. “To be honest, I don’t think he’s the best we can have,” I said. “I’d like to see him either come up to speed, where he can help me a lot more, or maybe there’s something he can do.”

Instantly, Donald was enthused. “Yeah, I never liked the guy. I don’t think he knows what the fuck he’s doing. My accountants up in New York are always complaining about him. He’s not responsive. And isn’t it funny, I’ve got black accountants at Trump Castle and at Trump Plaza. Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day. Those are the kind of people I want counting my money. Nobody else.”

Anyway, Bachman shared this story (which is now third-hand, but I find it believable): “I once had a fundraising meeting with a prominent NY Jewish philanthropist who is a developer. He said at every bankruptcy hearing which Trump lost, he’d yell at his Jewish lawyers ‘why can’t I get smart Jewish lawyers like these guys?’ as he gestured across the table.”

Taking my side, a couple of you wrote to share instances in which somebody used the verb “to jew” or “to jew down” (capitals on “jew” in that case? lmk what you think) without seeming to have any idea that it implicated actual Jews. I totally believe that happens. (How old are some people before they get schooled in the fact that “gyp” is offensive to a real live ethnic group?)

Anyway, it may have been unnecessary for me to invoke the question of Shakespearean knowledge, or the lack thereof. I could have just said, “Yeah, sounds bigoted,” and left it at that. But somehow it seemed apposite that Trump doesn’t, like, know stuff. It mattered.

“Why can’t I get smart Jewish lawyers like these guys’?” Trump is alleged to have asked.

And you know what? That point was driven home to me today, when I read this juicy Times story with the headline, “Trump Compliments Liberian President for ‘Beautiful English’.” Because you see, well, just read this: