Before sexual assault allegations ended his California gubernatorial bid, representative Eric Swalwell had carved out a niche as one of the Democrats most enthusiastically willing to swear on the record. On 9 April, the New York Times ranked him fourth among lawmakers by frequency of online F-word use. Later, Swalwell responded to their article on Twitter/X: “Here, add two more to my name. Fuck Donald Trump and fuck Ice.”
The Democratic party has many problems. One of them is that Swalwell will likely lose the distinction of being its fourth-most prolific swearer within months. His colleagues, unburdened by scandal, will carry on cursing their way toward relevance. Since 2020, Democrats have outsworn Republicans on social media by nearly four to one – they’ve used 197 F-words to Republicans’ 49, by the Times’s accounting.
