Rep. Eric Swalwell built a reputation as one of the party's most prolific swearers on social media until sexual assault allegations derailed his California gubernatorial campaign. In April, the New York Times ranked him fourth among lawmakers by frequency of F-word usage. He doubled down on Twitter, declaring: "Here, add two more to my name. Fuck Donald Trump and fuck Ice."
The trend Swalwell embodied tells a larger story about how some Democrats are chasing authenticity through profanity. Since 2020, Democrats have outsworn Republicans on social media by nearly four to one, deploying 197 F-words compared to Republicans' 49, according to the Times' count.
The strategy has found success in Democratic strongholds. California gubernatorial hopeful Katie Porter led a "fuck Trump" chant at the state party convention last February, generating media buzz for her struggling campaign. Illinois lieutenant governor Julianna Stratton aired a 30-second ad in February packed with six uses of the same phrase. She won her Democratic primary that March against a better-funded opponent.
Democrats feel betrayed by cautious, poll-tested messaging and crave combative politicians willing to fight back. For voters hungry for fire, cursing at Trump appears to deliver it cheaply and immediately.
But there's a problem with the strategy that extends beyond style. The Democratic Party already struggles with an image of defining itself purely through opposition to Donald Trump rather than articulating a forward-looking vision. Swearing at the president only deepens that perception. While Porter, Stratton, and Swalwell operate primarily in blue primaries where profanity resonates, the party's brand is national. Voters form impressions of both parties cumulatively, not just by watching one candidate.
In regions like the Rust Belt, merely wearing a D next to one's name carries an eight-point electoral penalty. Democrats need to win in places that don't share California's or Illinois's values. When the party's loudest voices are profane, that message travels nationally, shaping how swing voters perceive Democrats as a whole.
The most popular Democrats suggest vulgarity might be a solution to a problem it doesn't actually solve. Bernie Sanders, currently the second-most popular Democrat after Barack Obama according to YouGov, has uttered a word stronger than "damn" only once in public. Progressive state senator Zohran Mamdani hasn't ventured into that territory at all. These are the figures most likely to energize the party, and they're notably restrained in their language.
The disconnect reveals something uncomfortable: profanity may actually signal inauthenticity rather than reveal it. Rep. Maxine Dexter of Oregon delivered the phrase "we have to fuck Donald Trump" at a rally last year with visible discomfort. To observers, the awkwardness was unmistakable, even cringeworthy.
If Democrats do deploy profanity, it should at least be strategic rather than reflexive. Blanket denunciations of Trump accomplish nothing. When Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona questioned Marco Rubio's foreign policy framing by tweeting "What the fuck happened to America First?", the curse word actually anchored a substantive critique. Similarly, Maine Democrat Graham Platner's response to questioning about the Trump administration's war denial, "Fuck this. War is war," used profanity to express genuine outrage at a specific policy.
Anger at Trump is justified. But anger divorced from policy or strategy is just theater. It energizes a base for a moment and then fades. The Democratic Party's deeper challenge is articulating what it stands for beyond what it opposes. Profanity won't fill that void, no matter how liberally it's deployed.
Author James Rodriguez: "Democrats confusing authentic outrage with authentic politics will keep making the same mistakes they've made for the past decade."
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