Just six seconds into his gubernatorial launch video, Tom Steyer cursed.
“The richest people in America think that they earned everything themselves. Bullshit, man,” the hedge fund billionaire told the camera. “That’s so ridiculous.”
Jaws would have dropped if Gray Davis swore on camera during his 2002 run for governor of California, or if Jerry Brown did so in 2010, but in Steyer’s case the word choice was more curious, as it was clearly intentional, designed to get noticed — and get clicks (because it’s important to the context of this article, Blueprint is using the full profanities). He’s also not the only person seeking the state’s highest office ready to pottymouth it up.
When newly declared candidate Eric Swallwell appeared on CNN’s “The Story Is” in November, he said that if elected, he’d prioritize rapid government movement on housing projects. “I want to be a get-shit-done governor,” he told host Elex Michaelson.
And when former Congresswoman Katie Porter sent out a fundraising email in February, the subject line read: “Fuck Trump.” She must have liked the sound of it, because the email itself used the catchy phrase no fewer than five times, three in a row.
The man they’re hoping to succeed also isn’t averse to the well-placed curse — when speaking to reporters during the Davos summit in January, Gov. Gavin Newsom chastised European leaders for playing softball with President Trump. “Wake up! Where the hell has everybody been? Stop this bullshit diplomacy of niceties,” Newsom stated.
Why are elected officials increasingly cursing in public, when for so long it was politically forbidden? There’s no scientific answer, but like so much else these days, it can be traced to Trump himself, who never cared for any sort of political precedent, and in whose mouth an expletive sounds somehow authentic — a feeling others may be trying to emulate.
In 2018, Trump infamously referred to Haiti and some African nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting with U.S. senators — Trump denied that for years but now brags about it. He’s never stopped. Last October, when asked during a White House press conference about what then-Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro had offered to maintain positive relations, Trump said, “He’s offered everything … You know why? He doesn’t want to fuck around with the United States.”
Should anyone be surprised at this coarsening of the language, and that politicians are increasingly willing to say that? Probably not. We’ve all heard far worse, whether it’s “Glengarry Glen Ross,” a batch of eighth graders or… probably you if you miss a turn while driving or just can’t find the TV remote.
It’s not like elected officials are known for or were ever expected to speak chastely. Long after Lyndon Johnson died in 1973, the public learned how he really talked — consider his aphorism about controlling people, “I never trust a man until I’ve got his pecker in my pocket.” Similarly, the recordings Richard Nixon made in the Oval Office, many of which were released decades later, revealed not just ample use of “son of a bitch” but some downright antisemitic comments. Editors were so shocked by those that they famously replaced them with the phrase “expletive deleted.”
For a long time, political profanity would only surface during hot-mic moments. At a Labor Day rally in 2000, President George W. Bush spied a face in the crowd and leaned over to tell Vice President Dick Cheney, “There’s Adam Clymer, major-league asshole from the New York Times.” Clymer seemed to take it as a point of pride, writing in 2018, “Not many folks get to be cussed out, by name, on national television by the President of the United States.”
A difference now is that, at heightened moments, politicians no longer seek to censor themselves, and certain expletives function as emphasis. After an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis in January, Mayor Jacob Frey held a news conference where he seethed, “To ICE, get the fuck out of Minneapolis.” His fury was palpable, and the vulgarity helped drive it home.
Newsom adopted the same tone in February after Louisiana officials sought to sue California over abortion pill cases. On X, he tagged Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill and wrote, “Go fuck yourself. California will never help you criminalize healthcare.”
Los Angeles has seen a variety of political expletives. The most notable was the vitriolic, racist and homophobic 2021 meeting where a trio of City Council members and a labor leader ripped, well, just about everyone. In a secretly made recording, “shit” was uttered 50 times, and one of the scores of “fuck” variations involved then-Council President Nury Martinez declaring, “It’s the white members on this council that will motherfuck you in a heartbeat.”
But those profanities weren’t strategic. They were made in what the members thought was private, and their exposure didn’t demonstrate resolve or fortitude, just terrible judgment and offensive taste. Martinez resigned days after the recording became public.
More recently, during her 2024 run for City Council, Ysabel Jurado answered a question about police abolition by saying, “What’s the rap verse? Fuck the police, that’s how I see ’em.” She didn’t know she was being recorded. She still won the race.
It was a different situation in 2014, when Mayor Eric Garcetti attended a Staples Center rally to celebrate the L.A. Kings winning the Stanley Cup. Garcetti held a beer aloft as he told hockey fans, “There are two rules in politics. They say never, ever be pictured with a drink in your hand, and never swear, but this is a big fucking day.” The crowd roared.
In political terms, consider that a kinder, gentler F-bomb.
