GOP Senator Who Charged Interest on Medical Debt, Had Female Patients Arrested Is Being Painted as ‘Shylock-Type Guy,’ Trump Says

During a rally for Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas on Monday, President Trump said Dr. Marshall is being painted as a “Shylock-type guy” by Democrats after Dr. Marshall reportedly charged high interest rates on unpaid medical bills and helped get dozens of women arrested during his time as an obstetrician-gynecologist. Dr. Marshall has denied he did anything out of the ordinary. The invocation of Shylock — the antagonist of William Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” — has been used by antisemites for decades to accuse Jews of being greedy or financially manipulative. In the late 1930s, Nazis put on performances of Shakespeare’s play following the Kristallnacht in an effort to further gin up antisemitic attitudes, which many scholars believe contributed to other pogroms. Dr. Marshall — who is Christian — has denied that he did anything out of the ordinary after The New York Times reported on his financial practices. At the time the report was published, Dr. Marshall accused The Times of running a “hit job” during his tight re-election campaign. According to The Times, Dr. Marshall’s office sued hundreds of patients and helped get dozens arrested for unpaid medical debt. One woman who was arrested when she was eight months pregnant is now featured in an ad being run by Dr. Marshall’s Democratic opponent, The Reverend Adam Hamilton. Mr. Trump is currently on a week-long tour of red states to try to pull Republican Senate candidates over the finish line. He plans to travel exclusively to states he won in the 2024 election, including South Carolina, Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas in order to help Republicans with get-out-the-vote efforts. During an appearance in Kansas on Monday, he invoked Shylock. “[Dr. Marshall] was given a bum wrap because he was mandated by law to request — strongly — money owed from patients. You’re not allowed [to not] do it,” Mr. Trump said, arguing that Dr. Marshall had every right to “go after” patients with unpaid debts. “[Democrats] made it like, ‘Oh, he was some kind of a Shylock-type guy,” Mr. Trump said. “If he didn’t make these requests, he would be breaking the law.”“He would be subject to criminal arrest and liability,” the president continued. “He didn’t do it. He used a law firm that did it.”“They gave him a bum wrap,” the president concluded. “That’s the way it is, Roger. I have to tell it like it is. You got screwed with that stuff.”Dr. Marshall, who is seeking a second term, has strongly denied any wrongdoing, and is now demanding that Reverend Hamilton stop running the ad featuring one of Dr. Marshall’s former patients. Dr. Marshall’s attorneys argued that the woman, who in the ad is identified only by the first name “Meischa,” was not arrested for a missed payment of $50, but rather because she failed to appear in court over the course of three years. Dr. Marshall’s attorneys said the ad from Reverend Hamilton was “defamatory.” As of Tuesday, the ad from Reverend Hamilton’s campaign is still running in the state.

GOP Senator Who Charged Interest on Medical Debt, Had Female Patients Arrested Is Being Painted as ‘Shylock-Type Guy,’ Trump Says

GOP Senator Who Charged Interest on Medical Debt, Had Female Patients Arrested Is Being Painted as ‘Shylock-Type Guy,’ Trump Says

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