Trump's vulgarity is poisoning public life

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Trump’s vulgarity is poisoning public life
The president's bad behavior Isn't incidental — it's the bedrock of his fascist project

By Chauncey DeVega
Senior Writer
Published May 26, 2026 6:45AM (EDT)


(Salon) Donald Trump is a vulgarian. We know this — it has long been a defining feature of his public and private lives. But a new report from the Washington Post quantifies what many people have sensed: Trump’s use of profanity, insults and combative language has grown much worse since his return to power in January 2025.

In Trump’s first term, about 40% of his speeches contained at least one use of vulgarity. During just the first 16 months of his second term, that figure stands at 93%. The president’s profane or insulting posts on social media have also tripled as compared to his first term. The barrages are coming much later; most of his posts are made between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., indicating the president, who has always been nocturnal, is even more so as he approaches his 80th birthday in June. His Truth Social posts are more self-referential and egomaniacal: in 2026, half of his posts have used first-person pronouns — sometimes more than 12 times in a single post. That is up from 30% from 2018.

But this goes beyond numbers. Trump’s vulgar behavior and cruelty are not incidental. They are structural, and a defining feature of his policies, his view of democracy and society, and his relationship to the American people and the world.

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Fascism and other forms of authoritarianism are, at their core, vulgar political systems and forms of crude power that rob entire populations and societies of dignity and agency. It is not a coincidence that Trump’s language and behavior has coarsened in direct proportion to the acceleration of his authoritarian project.

As he has aged, has increasingly appeared to lack filters or self-control. Whether this is intentional behavior born of the arrogance of power or a symptom of a deteriorating mental state is somewhat beside the point. His will to power has not been stopped by members of the Republican Party, America’s political institutions or the responsible elites. The walls have not closed in on Trump. This time around, the so-called adults in the room from his first administration are no longer present; they have been replaced by MAGA sycophants and enablers. ..................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/05/26/trumps-vulgarity-is-poisoning-public-life/