The language of politicians has become more vulgar in recent years. Leaders in both parties are openly using vulgarities. President Trump recently referred to alleged drug smugglers with an expletive during a Cabinet meeting.<\/b>
\nAs he shook President Barack Obama\u2019s hand and pulled him in for what he thought was a private aside, Vice President Joe Biden delivered an explicit message: \u201cThis is a big f\u2014\u2014\u2014 deal.\u201d The remark, overheard on live microphones at a 2010 ceremony for the Affordable Care Act, caused a sensation because open profanity from a national leader was unusual at the time.
More than 15 years later, vulgarity is now in vogue.
During a political rally Tuesday night in Pennsylvania that was intended to focus on tackling inflation, President Donald Trump used profanity at least four times. At one point, he even admitted to disparaging Haiti and African nations as \u201c shithole countries \u201d during a private 2018 meeting, a comment he denied at the time. And before a bank of cameras during a lengthy Cabinet meeting last week, the Republican president referred to alleged drug smugglers as \u201csons of b\u2014\u2014-s.\u201d
While the Biden incident was accidental, the frequency, sharpness and public nature of Trump\u2019s comments are intentional. They build on his project to combat what he sees as pervasive political correctness. Leaders in both parties are seemingly in a race now to the verbal gutter.
Vice President JD Vance called a podcast host a \u201cdips\u2014t\u201d in September. In Thanksgiving remarks before troops, Vance joked that anyone who said they liked turkey was \u201cfull of s\u2014-.\u201d After one National Guard member was killed in a shooting in Washington last month and a second was critically injured, top Trump aide Steven Cheung told a reporter on social media to \u201cshut the f\u2014- up\u201d when she wrote that the deployment of troops in the nation\u2019s capital was \u201cfor political show.\u201d
The volley of vulgarities underscore an ever-coarsening political environment that often plays out on social media or other digital platforms where the posts or video clips that evoke the strongest emotions are rewarded with the most engagement.
\u201cIf you want to be angry at someone, be angry at the social media companies,\u201d Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said Tuesday night at Washington National Cathedral, where he spoke at an event focused on political civility. \u201cIt\u2019s not a fair fight. They\u2019ve hijacked our brains. They understand these dopamine hits. Outrage sells.\u201d
Cox, whose national profile rose after calling for civility in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk\u2019s assassination in his state, approved an overhaul of social media laws meant to protect children. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the state law.Tough political talk is nothing new
Tough talk is nothing new in politics, but leaders long avoided flaunting it.
Recordings from Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson\u2019s administration, for instance, revealed a crude, profane side of his personality that was largely kept private. Republican Richard Nixon bemoaned the fact that the foul language he used in the Oval Office was captured on tape. \u201cSince neither I nor most other Presidents had ever used profanity in public, millions were shocked,\u201d Nixon wrote in his book \u201cIn the Arena.\u201d
\u201cPoliticians have always sworn, just behind closed doors,\u201d said Benjamin Bergen, a professor at the University of California-San Diego\u2019s Department of Cognitive Science and the author of \u201cWhat the F: What swearing reveals about our language, our brains, and ourselves.\u201d \u201cThe big change is in the past 10 years or so, it\u2019s been much more public.\u201d
As both parties prepare for the 2026 midterm elections and the 2028 presidential campaign, the question is whether this language will become increasingly mainstream. Republicans who simply try to imitate Trump\u2019s brash style do not always succeed with voters. Democrats who turn to vulgarities risk appearing inauthentic if their words feel forced.
For some, it is just a distraction.
\u201cIt\u2019s not necessary,\u201d said GOP Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who is retiring next year after winning five elections in one of the most competitive House districts. \u201cIf that\u2019s what it takes to get your point across, you\u2019re not a good communicator.\u201dThere are risks of overusing profanity
There also is a risk that if such language becomes overused, its utility as a way to shock and connect with audiences could be dulled. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has talked about this problem, noting that he used swear words in his early routines but dropped them as his career progressed because he felt profanity yielded only cheap laughs.
\u201cI felt like well I just got a laugh because I said f\u2014- in there,\u201d he said in a 2020 interview on the WTF podcast with fellow comedian Marc Maron. \u201cYou didn\u2019t find the gold.\u201d
White House spokesperson Liz Huston said Trump \u201cdoesn\u2019t care about being politically correct, he cares about Making America Great Again. The American people love how authentic, transparent, and effective the President is.\u201d
But for Trump, the words that have generated the most controversy are often less centered in traditional profanity than slurs that can be interpreted as hurtful. The final weeks of his 2016 campaign were rocked when a tape emerged of him discussing grabbing women by their genitals, language he minimized as \u201clocker room talk.\u201d His \u201cshithole\u201d remark in 2018 was widely condemned as racist.
More recently, Trump called a female journalist \u201cpiggy,\u201d comments that his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, defended as evidence of a president who is \u201cvery frank and honest.\u201d Trump\u2019s use of a slur about disabled people prompted an Indiana Republican whose child has Down syndrome to come out in opposition to the president\u2019s push to redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts.
On rare occasions, politicians express contrition for their choice of words. In an interview with The Atlantic published last week, Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., dismissed Harris\u2019 depiction of him in her book about last year\u2019s presidential campaign by saying she was \u201ctrying to sell books and cover her a\u2014.\u201d
He seemed to catch himself quickly.
\u201cI shouldn\u2019t say \u2018cover her a\u2014,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s not appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n