Axios (“Political profanity is having a f*cking moment“):
Politicians are increasingly abandoning scripted language and publicly cursing as profanity becomes a more common political tool.
The shift suggests politicians are using profanity intentionally to project authenticity, signal confrontation and distance themselves from traditional Washington norms.
“There’s this dissatisfaction and anti-establishment fervor that’s been present for probably at least a decade now,” Nick Beauchamp, a professor at Northeastern University who studies political rhetoric, tells Axios. “I think that part of the appeal of the strong language… is to take some of that same energy that might otherwise be directed towards radical policy, and instead directs it towards a radical rejection of the status quo.”
President Trump said Wednesday morning that American forces were going to “beat the fucking shit” out of Iranian forces after Iran targeted U.S. forces in Jordan overnight.
Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) cursed out Anthony Fauci, who led the U.S. COVID-19 response, during a Senate hearing Wednesday, condemning the nation’s mask requirements at the height of the pandemic. “Here I am sitting in front of you six years later, saying, who the fuck do you think you were for doing that?”
Presidents, vice presidents and presidential hopefuls have used profanity at least 692 times in public since 1919, according to data from Cardiff University. And 605 of those instances occurred in just the past 10 years.
Trump and former President Biden account for 78% of all recorded profanity. Biden prefers words such as “damn,” whereas Trump has used more colorful language like “fuck,” “shit,” “bastards” and “shithole.”Other politicians who frequently swear include Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), who wrote “fuck” in at least 77 X posts from 2020 to April 2026, and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.), who used the f-word at least 35 times, according to a New York Times analysis.
Voters perceive swear words as significantly more informal, which measurably improves voters’ overall impression of a candidate by making them sound like an ordinary person, according to a study published in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology. Cuss-filled rhetoric didn’t necessarily persuade more voters, but it did help candidates unconsciously pass the “vibe check,” indirectly increasing voter support.
Mostly, this just reflects the changing mores of society. There was a time when even the most moderate swear words simply weren’t allowed on television, for example. Or when the use of the strongest language would automatically garner a movie an R rating. We’ve simply evolved on that front.
Additionally, the rise of social media means that politicians can communicate with the public much more frequently and directly. Comparing off-the-cuff tweets to carefully crafted stump speeches skews the results considerably. We know, for example, that Richard Nixon frequently used blue language in the Oval Office. But that didn’t translate to his curated public speeches.
But, yes, use of more informal language (and dress) has come to be seen as a sign of being “a regular person,” rather than a “slick politician.” Not shockingly, double standards apply.
Male politicians were more likely to benefit from the strategy, while female politicians were viewed positively with or without swearing, according to the study. Other researchers say women and people of color who pursue similar strategies may face greater backlash because of expectations around respectability politics.
Which is fucking bullshit.
