American politics has gotten dirty — and so have officials' mouths.
The big picture: In the era of politics often defined by the in-your-face style of President Trump, lawmakers are dropping f-bombs like "The Wolf of Wall Street" went to Washington.
- Robert Thompson, the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, told Axios the U.S. long operated in "two parallel languages": How we spoke with one another and the "language of public discourse."
- "One could argue that until these past couple of years that separation was still pretty extreme," he said. The Trump era, in some ways, has set "new rules."
Case in point: In a high-intensity press briefing after a federal agent shot and killed a driver in Minneapolis, the city's mayor, Jacob Frey, didn't mince words as he ripped into ICE, demanding officers "get the f-ck out."
- That phrase — while softened with asterisks and dashes — made headlines and was broadcast live.
- Michael Adams, an English professor at Indiana University Bloomington and the author of "In Praise of Profanity," says Frey's fiery command was a "great moment in swearing" as a piece of expressive language: "It was an instance in which I think it's fair to say that swearing was eloquent."
While Frey's sharp rebuke garnered significant coverage, it's part of a years-long erosion of political and media norms that limited profanity in the public arena of politics and the scandal that resulted from using those words.
Context: Trump is a top offender. In October, he told reporters as cameras were rolling that since-captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro didn't "want to f-ck around with the United States" — a profanity-laden punch the administration was quick to promote with its "FAFO" catchphrase.
- He's publicly used a plethora of profanities during his political career, including confirming the infamous incident where he called Haiti and other nations "s--thole countries" and calling other nations (and U.S. cities) "hellholes."
- And he flipped the bird at a heckler at a Michigan Ford factory Tuesday, with footage of his federal finger appearing on gossip website TMZ.
Vice President Vance has taken a page out of Trump's book, calling a podcast host a "dips--t on social media and saying in a speech to troops that people who like turkey were "full of s--t."
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also told a room of the nation's top military officials that the department was "done with that s--t" — meaning social justice and diversity initiatives.
The other side: While Trump is known for his at-times overtly crass language, Democrats have also sang along in a chorus of curse words.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has flaunted the f-word: dropping "No f--king way" in a video shared amid the government shutdown and saying the administration can't "f--k around" over the Epstein files release.
- And former Vice President Kamala Harris used her favorite curse word at a Los Angeles summit in October.
- "If … Trump opened the door to swearing, Trump is getting a dose of that back now because other people are swearing to express their frustration at things they believe he's responsible for," Adams said.
What they're saying: Thompson said it's like politicians "have discovered what comedians discovered a generation ago ... that in fact, you could get laughs by simply saying these words."
- "Now, there's this sense that you can make a point by simply saying them."
Flashback: When the White House released transcripts ahead of former President Nixon's resignation amid the Watergate scandal, they were notoriously littered with the placeholder, "[expletive deleted]."
- "That, I think, was the first time a lot of people got the sense that ... 'wow, Nixon really has a foul mouth, and ... this is the first president that used these words' — which, of course, wasn't the case," Thompson said.
- Nixon acknowledged that tension himself, writing in "In the Arena," that while other presidents used foul language, "none of them had the bad judgment to have it on tape."
Yes, but: Cursing in politics continued to trigger scrutiny despite, as Thompson notes, critically acclaimed programming of the day using such language in "extreme ways."
- While Nixon seemed ashamed by the foul language, the late Vice President Dick Cheney took pride in his profanity, saying that telling the retired Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to "f--k yourself" was "sort of the best thing I ever did."
- And a giddy former President Biden famously told former President Obama that the signing of the Affordable Care Act was a "big f--king deal" — in a not-so-secret whisper.
Worth noting: While Trump's use of curse words may garner little more than a momentary raise of the eyebrows, his other rhetoric — calling a female reporter "piggy" or Somali immigrants "garbage" — has sparked significant outrage.
Today, cursing in politics evokes a sense of strategy rather than the scandal of the past.
- "The F word is the new authenticity," Thompson said. And sometimes, he adds, "it's kind of pathetic."
The bottom line: Thanks to that growing trend of political profanity, today's newscasts may feel more George Carlin than Stephanopoulos.
Go deeper: 'Trumptalk' may outlast Trump
