Trump’s profane crusade is taking America down a dark path  

On Easter Sunday, President Trump posted a profane missive on Truth Social: “Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F—in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.”

Two days later, he added, “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.” 

These comments appalled even some who have ardently supported the president. Tucker Carlson called them “vile on every level.” Megyn Kelly denounced them as “completely irresponsible and disgusting.” Candace Owens denounced Trump as “a genocidal lunatic.” Alex Jones and Marjorie Taylor Greene advocated removing him from office under the 25th Amendment.

Presidents have long used coarse language, sometimes in public. Lyndon Johnson was famous for his vulgar comments. Richard Nixon’s expletive-laced tirades were revealed in the Watergate scandal tapes. More recently, Joe Biden told then President Obama that passing the Affordable Care Act was a “big f—ing deal.”

Less than 30 percent of Americans, it’s worth noting, believe politicians should use “heated or aggressive language.” Nonetheless, politicians (and the media) are more comfortable with profanity than they used to be. Democrats in particular have embraced the F-word to signal authenticity and connect with audiences enraged by the Trump administration’s policies. 

But what makes Trump’s rhetoric unique — and uniquely dangerous — is not just the frequency and ferocity with which he uses profanity. It is the mutually reinforcing way he combines it with Christian nationalism and racial and religious insults to signal that the only real Americans are white,........

© The Hill