Two things in life are certain: change and paying taxes. Both will happen, whether we like it or not. This past week, both were in full view. Congress was working long hours to pass a bill that retains the tax cuts, due to expire this year, that were enacted during the first Trump term. As for change, President Trump made history by being the first US president to publicly use the f-word. He announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, which failed, and then subsequently expressed his anger at both nations: “We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they’re doing.” He made this statement to reporters just before boarding Marine One for a trip to Europe to attend the NATO summit.
It is no secret that US presidents swear privately. Vice-President Joe Biden famously whispered in President Obama’s ear during the Obamacare bill signing: “This is one big f***ing deal.” President Nixon swearing was heard on the Watergate tapes. In his book, In the Arena, published in 1990 after he resigned, Nixon said it was unfortunate that his foul language was caught on tapes that were later publicly released. He said that other Presidents swore, “but none of them had the bad judgement to have it on tape. … Since neither I nor most other Presidents had ever used profanity in public, millions were shocked. I have heard other Presidents use very earthy language in the Oval Office.”
Evangelist Billy Graham, a regular visitor to the White House, told a longtime Nixon aide, H.R. “Bob” Haldeman: “Bob, I can’t believe what I’ve read in the tapes because … in all the hours I spent with Richard Nixon, and there were many, many hours, he never said ‘damn,’ let alone those things … I can’t believe it.” Halderman stated that Nixon had “enormous respect” and “enormous affection” for Graham and refrained from cursing.
Vice-President Johnson, who grew up in rural Texas and known for his salty language, was thrust into the presidency after the assassination of President Kennedy. Those serving Johnson knew first-hand of his crude behavior and expressed their concerns about his public speaking abilities. He made his first televised presidential speech before a joint session of Congress as the nation mourned John Kennedy. Johnson read slowly as if it was Kennedy’s funeral and downplayed his new role: “All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.” Publicly, Johnson exhibited humility. Privately, he remained the crude Texan.
It has been more than 50 years since Nixon’s resignation, and sadly, the public’s tolerance for foul language has increased. In Jemima Kelly’s recent Financial Times opinion, The Power and the Glory of Profanity: Donald Trump’s inclination to swear is coarse, unpresidential, and highly effective (June 28, 2025), she writes: “By breaking free of the usual constraints of polite political language, Trump was demonstrating how significant he considered the current moment. By showing some real passion and emotion, he was bringing humanity to a subject often treated as if it were a globe-sized game of chess rather than a matter of human life and death.” Instead of denouncing his crudeness, Kelly glorifies it: “The shock it produced, therefore, was powerful: I even saw positive responses from those users on Bluesky who tend to reflexively criticize everything the president says or does.”
My grandfather would not see the 1939 movie, Gone with the Wind, because Rhett Butler (Clark Gable) said in the final scene, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” The only time I heard my father use profanity was when I ran into him as a child and splashed hot coffee over his business clothes just before he departed for work. I used profanity as a teenager amongst my male friends as a way of being cool, but never the f-word. I stopped cursing after high school, although an occasional “modest” profanity slips out during stressful events, like almost getting into a car wreak or hearing terrible news, but never in public.
Over the last decade, ugly profanities have moved mainstream: TV sitcoms, movies, classrooms, print media, restaurants, malls, airports, … ad nauseam. One can sit in a restaurant and hear the f-word in most sentences at the next table. When I was at an executive MBA course at the Wharton School of Business, one older professor threw out constant profanities during his hour lecture. I don’t remember the lecture, but I do remember his obscenities; so much for conveying the essence of his talk.
Scripture teaches that God blessed the sexual union between a male and a female in a long-term relationship, referred to today as marriage. In the Roman Catholic Church, marriage is a sacrament, a gift from God. Sexual unions, within these boundaries, are encouraged. On the opposite spectrum, the f-word can be used to express sexual violence towards a person, which if performed, would be a major felony crime. It is a pejorative and disrespectful. Over time, the original meaning has slowly blossomed into an opening statement, an intensifier, and other forms of expression, from offensive to commonplace.
In Kelly’s opinion, she quotes Michael Adams, a professor of English language and literature at Indiana University: “You can really assert your dominance by swearing, especially when you’ve got the license to swear but other people don’t have.” Having spent 34 years in the energy business, I am not a puritan and allow people the respect and space to express themselves, even if it is counter to my faith. In trading, there was a truism spoken regularly: the trend is your friend. The way language is trending, it is no friend.
Like substance abusers caught up in a dependency, I fear that our nation has not yet reached the cultural low that results in a plea for help. Where does this downward language trend end? I don’t have that futuristic knowledge, but recovery starts with first acknowledging your weakness, not your “dominance.” Then seek answers from revelation, not reason, for it is human reason that caused this downward slide.
