President Joe Biden‘s latest colorful remarks about former President Donald Trump and his Republican loyalists at a rally in his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, spotlight an increasingly evident trend in American political discourse: the normalization of informal and occasionally coarse language on the campaign trail.
During Saturday’s speech to the local carpenters’ union in support of Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden departed from his prepared remarks after warning about potential plans to cut taxes for the wealthy should Trump win a second term.
“Now, I know some of you guys are tempted to think it’s macho guys,” Biden said, alluding to Trump’s appeal to male voters. “I tell you what, man, when I was in Scranton, we used to have a little trouble going down the plot once in a while. These are the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the a**.”
Newsweek contacted Trump’s campaign, as well as Biden’s spokesperson for comment via email on Saturday.
Media personality Nick Sortor reposted the viral clip from the event, drawing comparisons to a recent rally from Harris’ running mate.
Joe Biden just said Republicans “are the kind of guys you’d like to smack in the ass”
Uhhh… what?
Is he taking Tim Walz’s lines now? pic.twitter.com/r5mQNbTCGM
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) November 2, 2024
NBC News White House correspondent Mike Memoli posted an image from the event on X: “@POTUS, back at the Carpenters Hall in Scranton, warns GOP wants to repeal the ACA & CHIPS, cut Social Security so they can cut taxes for wealthy again.”
.@POTUS, back at the Carpenters Hall in Scranton, warns GOP wants to repeal the ACA & CHIPS, cut Social Security so they can cut taxes for wealthy again. “These are the kinds of guys you like to smack in the ass.” pic.twitter.com/waBLjnXuWc
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) November 2, 2024
Just last week, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz played up this trend when he criticized Tesla CEO Elon Musk at a Wisconsin campaign rally, describing the billionaire Trump surrogate as “jumping around, skipping like a dips***.”
The evolution of now-acceptable political discourse was further illustrated when Trump called Harris a “s*** vice president” at a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Such language, which might have once sparked widespread controversy, now barely register as headlines in the news cycle.
Derrick Green, Department of Communication chairman at Cedarville University, previously told Newsweek that, “What is acceptable has changed. It’s not just in the political arena. Words that were bleeped or censored during broadcasts are no longer being censored. What we would call cursing five, 10, 15 years ago is not seen as profanity.”
The transformation of political discourse can be traced back to significant moments like the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape during Trump’s 2016 campaign, and his subsequent presidency, which included referring to certain nations as “s***-hole countries” in 2018.
Despite this increasingly informal tone, Biden’s Scranton appearance maintained a strong focus on policy matters.
Without directly naming House Speaker Mike Johnson, he addressed Republican rumors about potentially repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) otherwise known as “Obamacare,” stating, “This is not personal, just the facts. [Trump] wants to take away the Affordable Health Care Act. That would have a devastating impact on the kids you grew up with, on the people you grew up with.”
During a rally in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Johnson declared that healthcare reform would be a “big part of the agenda” for a second Trump presidency. “When I say we’re going to have a very aggressive first 100 days agenda, we got a lot of things still on the table,” he said.
When an attendee asked, “No Obamacare?” Johnson replied: “No Obamacare. The ACA is so deeply ingrained, we need massive reform to make this work, and we got a lot of ideas on how to do that.”
Trump’s opposition to the ACA has been a consistent theme throughout his political career. Though his administration’s attempts to repeal the healthcare law were blocked by Congress during his presidency, and the Supreme Court later rejected a legal challenge to the ACA’s constitutionality, he continues to advocate for its elimination.
During the September 10 ABC News presidential debate, Trump claimed to have “the concepts of a plan” to replace the current healthcare system.
Recognizing potential uncertainty among union members about supporting Harris, Biden urged them to focus on policy implications rather than personality considerations. “This other guy doesn’t care about us,” he said.