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.
