The Golden Age of Political Profanity

Many elected officials, candidates, political analysts and podcast hosts affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, and related far-leftist ilk, probably don’t kiss their mothers very often.

I say this not only because their parents must be embarrassed that they raised kids so woefully ignorant of history, hateful of America and its freedoms, resentful of anyone who is white, successful, gainfully employed and with money in the bank, who believe that the chief executive of a health insurance company deserves to die, and that gangraping Israeli teenage girls and tossing Jewish babies into ovens is just another day in the terrorism office, and that such barbarism is necessary by any means.

But there is a more fundamental reason why such people should stay away from their mothers’ lips. It has long been said that those with inexhaustible potty mouths should have the decency not to kiss their mothers.

Welcome to the golden age of political profanity. Curse words casually but passionately released during stump speeches, in social media postings, or on podcasts are all the rage. Podcasts, especially, are cesspools of profanity. And because they are carried over the internet and not broadcast through public airwaves licensed by the FCC, George Carlin’s “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” comedy routine, and the Supreme Court case that emanated from it, doesn’t seem to apply to modern-day soapboxes where dirty words have been elevated to the Queen’s English.

There are no braces when it comes to these potty mouths.

Many political animals behave like animals when it comes to making their opinions known—regardless of party. When Donald Trump receives a question from a disfavored journalist at an impromptu press conference, he makes Don Rickles seem demure by comparison. Some of his Truth Social posts, especially when communicating his disdain for the clerics of Iran, have all the elements of a barroom brawl set off by locker room trash talk.

Camelot this is not.

But the hard left is especially predisposed to incorporating vulgarity into their messaging. Representative Rashida Tlaib may have kicked things off when, in January 2019, she was sworn in to Congress vowing  publicly, “we’re gonna impeach the mother_ucker.” This is the way she said hello to President Trump.

Suddenly, the hall monitors and “shushing” librarians disappeared. Progressives took the gloves off and smash-mouth confrontational speaking became the norm. Every name in the book came off the page. Bernie Sanders didn’t curse, but his always angry tone sure sounded like a truck driver or drunken sailor who does.

Former Congressman Jamaal Bowman spent his days in office, and especially his re-election campaign, giving a master class in R-rated political commentary. Here are two examples of lowlights: “We are going to show f_cking AIPAC the power of the mother_cking South Bronx!”; “We’re going to show them who the f_ck we are!”; and this non sequitur, “People ask me why I got a foul mouth. What am I supposed to do? You’re coming after me! You’re coming after my family! You’re coming after my children! I’m not supposed to fight back?”

He never specified in what ways he and his family were threatened so as to entitle him to be so permissive with his profanity.

Of course, all former or current elected officials can take lessons in the absence of etiquette from Senator Ruben Gallego. He is always locked and loaded for things best left unsaid, such as “racist shit” on X; “I mean, I was swearing before Trump, so I can’t really blame it on him”; “This is f_cking insane. We should all point out how f_cking insane this is”; “F_ck you guys! You’re not going to be able to scare us”; and “What the f_ck happened to America First?”

No less a left-wing mouthpiece than the New York Times crowned Gallego the most prolific F-word user in Congress.

Outside of elected officials, no one excels at this new political vernacular more than Hasan Piker, avowed communist and Islamist sympathizer. Whether at campaign rallies or on his Twitch streaming channel, he is at the highest rung of vulgar, uncouth cretin. How the elder statesmen of the Democratic Party allow him to take the stage in their name is truly mind-blowing. He is no campaign surrogate; he’s a suicide bomber with a filthy mouth.

The prim and proper faint of heart would be well advised to skip this paragraph: He told an elderly Vietnamese refugee who survived the ravages of communism, “F_ck you old lady. Shut the fuck up you stupid idiotic old lady. . .. God damn, Yo, f_ck this refugee.” He said, “America deserved 9/11 dude, f_ck it.” He referred to Jews as “rabid ultra‑Zionist pigs,” and southern whites as “inbred hicks.”

Such are the consequences of our coarsened culture. The intolerance for conflicting opinions. The incivility of what passes for debate. And the speed with which people resort to violent speech, followed by outright violence.

Such are the consequences of our coarsened culture. The intolerance for conflicting opinions. The incivility of what passes for debate. And the speed with which people resort to violent speech, followed by outright violence.

In 2021, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression released its College Free Speech Rankings. Students were asked whether it is appropriate to use violence to stop a speaker on campus. Roughly 20% stated that it was sometimes acceptable. Several years later, in 2025, that number increased to 34%. Perhaps even more revealing is that 71% said shouting down a speaker is acceptable, and 54% believed that blocking other students from attending a speech is appropriate.

The erosion of speech at all levels and decibels is like a new dance craze—but the slickest moves are practiced on the far left. It’s part of the “burn it down” ethos of pro-Hamas encampments and threatening marches; the burning of flags, police cars and precincts; and the shameless antisemitic aggressions in broad daylight from masked red-green allies who put aside their obvious ideological differences to joyfully take part in anti-Israel, anti-American pogroms.

The erosion of speech at all levels and decibels is like a new dance craze—but the slickest moves are practiced on the far left.

Should we honestly expect anything less? Everything else is falling by the wayside: Judeo-Christian values, American patriotism, proper etiquette and good manners. All such discarded virtues are laughable on the hard left, not something to emulate, but to mock.

Yes, I am aware of the January 6 Capitol Building riot. But those hooligans were properly punished, unlike the hate crimes that are casually dismissed and legally tolerated when perpetrated by the hard left. January 6 participants saw themselves as super-patriots. Many were former veterans and current first-responders—not anti-American anarchists. On January 6, demonstrators stormed the Capitol with American flags flowing, not on fire.

That’s not at all like what pro-Hamas, BLM and Hasan Piker spectacles look and sound like. For their foul-mouthed leaders, America is wholly without good deeds; and its history irredeemably racist, homophobic and Islamophobic. The firebrands of the DSA, and their fellow arsonists, are true evangelists for America the un-beautiful.

And they can all go f_ck themselves.

Thane Rosenbaum is a novelist, essayist, law professor and Distinguished University Professor at Touro University, where he directs the Forum on Life, Culture & Society. He is a contributing writer for White Rose magazine. His most recent book is titled, “Beyond Proportionality: Israel’s Just War in Gaza.”