605 of 692 presidential profanities recorded in last 10 years — Trump and Biden account for 78%

Since former President Woodrow Wilson first used profanity in public in 1919, US presidents, vice presidents and presidential candidates have collectively cursed at least 692 times — and 87 percent of those instances, or 605, have come in the last decade alone.

Joseph Phillips, a politics lecturer at Cardiff University in Britain, released findings from an analysis of presidential library records. He said that in earlier eras it was rare for a president to use profanity in official remarks, even on the campaign trail. The New York Post and other outlets reported his findings Thursday.

"Wilson was the first to break the taboo, in 1919, when he reflected that he had 'made a perfect ass of himself,'" Phillips said.

Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden together accounted for 538 instances — 78 percent of the total.

According to Phillips, Biden favored relatively mild expressions during his presidency, with "damn" among his go-to words. Trump, by contrast, brought a wider and more colorful range of language into presidential discourse — including "bastard" and expletives beginning with the letter F.

Trump offered a vivid example Wednesday, when Iran launched a missile strike on a US military base in Jordan. In a phone call with Fox News, he unleashed a string of profanity-laced remarks, vowing to hit Iran hard.

"We're going to hit them hard," he said, adding that Iran would "get the hell beaten out of them." In April, he issued what amounted to an ultimatum, telling Iran with an expletive to open the Strait of Hormuz or "live in hell."

Biden also has a notable moment on record: as vice president in 2010, he was caught on a hot microphone telling then-President Barack Obama at the signing of the Affordable Care Act that it was "a big f---ing deal." He was more restrained in public during his own presidency, however.

Phillips said that in an era of low political trust, profanity can serve as a signal that a politician is "authentic."

Citing a recent YouGov poll, he added that the American public is less put off by swearing than it once was, and that if the trend continues, the share of voters who object to political profanity will keep shrinking.

He cautioned, however, that even if Americans dislike profanity in politics, it is unlikely to shift their underlying partisan loyalties.

Axios argued Wednesday that crude language gives politicians a less formal image and can boost approval ratings — particularly for male politicians.

Nick Beauchamp, a professor at Northeastern University, told Axios that the phenomenon reflects more than a decade of frustration with the political establishment and anti-elite sentiment. "Instead of radical policy, they're expressing rejection of the status quo through radical language," he said.