People Can't Stop Talking About Joe Biden Calling A Fox News Reporter "A Stupid SOB," So I Found 11 Other Presidents Who Have Been Caught Cursing
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In case you missed it, president Biden was caught on a hot mic calling Fox News reporter Peter Doocy a "stupid son of a bitch."
As Biden's Jan. 24 briefing was winding down, Doocy called out, "Do you think inflation is a political liability going into the midterms?"
"No, it's a great asset," Biden replied. "More inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch."
It is unclear if Biden knew the microphone could pick up his whispered swear.
Doocy said that president Biden called to apologize shortly after the briefing ended.
"He cleared the air, and I appreciate it. We had a nice call," Doocy said during an appearance on Hannity on Monday night.
After hearing this, I was wondering if any other presidents had been caught cursing, and man, oh man, have they! From leaked F-bombs to cursing parrots, here are 11 other foul-mouthed presidents:
1.Donald Trump referring to African nations as "shithole countries":
Donald Trump was caught cursing several times throughout his presidency, most notably when he called Haiti and African nations "shithole countries" during an Oval Office meeting about immigration.
According to the Washington Post, Trump also dropped the F-bomb during a 2016 campaign rally. “We’re gonna have businesses that used to be in New Hampshire that are now in Mexico,” he said. “Come back to New Hampshire, and you can tell them to go fuck themselves!”
Just before the 2016 election, tapes of Trump and Access Hollywood host Billy Bush were leaked. In the tapes, which were recorded in 2005, Trump is heard saying, “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful — I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything.”
2.Barack Obama calling Kanye West "a jackass":
3.George W. Bush calling a New York Times reporter a "major-league asshole":
During his 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush leaned over to Dick Cheney, his running mate, and said, “There’s Adam Clymer, major-league asshole from the New York Times.” Bush and Cheney were unaware that the microphone was on at the time of the remarks. Bush later poked fun at his faux pas, calling Clymer a "major-league ass...et" during a taped message at a press corps dinner.
Before he became the 42nd president, Bush also dropped the F-bomb several times during a 1999 interview with Tucker Carlson for Talk magazine.
4.Bill Clinton saying he shouldn't take "any shit" for his comments:
After Barack Obama defeated former president Bill Clinton's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the 2008 South Carolina Democratic Primary, Clinton compared the win to Rev. Jesse Jackson's primary wins in the 1980s. Obama remarked that Clinton's comments felt racially motivated. Clinton, thinking no one could hear him, shot back, saying "I don't think I should take any shit from anybody on that, do you?"
5.Ronald Reagan screaming "God damn it, Pierre" at the prime minister of Canada:
During an economic summit in London in 1983, talks about détente with the Soviet Union got heated between president Reagan and Canadian prime minister Pierre-Elliott Trudeau. Reagan's approach to easing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union proved unpopular with some of the meeting's attendees, prompting him to pound his fist on the table and yell "God damn it, Pierre" at the politician.
Despite this outburst, Reagan refused to ever write down a curse word, even in his own private diaries.
6.Jimmy Carter saying he would "whip his ass" if Ted Kennedy ran against him in the 1980 election:
In his 1980 bid for re-election, Carter caught wind that Senator Ted Kennedy was planning to challenge Carter for the Democratic nomination. Carter was caught telling a group of Sen. that if Kennedy ran against him, he would "whip his ass."
While Carter ultimately did whip Kennedy's ass and secured the nomination, he lost the 1980 general election to Ronald Reagan. Carter and Kennedy maintained a feud for years to come following their spat.
7.Nixon's Watergate tapes were full of redacted expletives:
Richard Nixon was notorious for recording nearly every interaction he had as president. When these recordings came to light during the Watergate scandal, the official transcripts were littered with "expletive deleted" redactions.
Some of the reported curses included Nixon calling Ivy League presidents "stupid sons of bitches" and him muttering "son of a bitch" while watching the Washington Redskins fail to come back against the Dallas Cowboys.
The tapes also include many instances of Nixon using antisemitic language and making racist and anti-gay comments.
8.Lyndon B. Johnson was notoriously a major potty mouth:
Lyndon B. Johnson was apparently a huge proponent of using some rather colorful language. The president even used to take meetings while on the toilet, leaving the door wide open while he did his business.
There are honestly too many one-liners to write out here, but some top picks include: “Boys, I may not know much, but I do know the difference between chicken shit and chicken salad," when referring to the difference between a senator and a representative, and “I want someone who will kiss my ass in Macy’s window and say it smells like roses."
9.John F. Kennedy calling a maternity suite at an Air Force base for Jackie Kennedy a "major fuck-up":
10.Harry Truman called a general a "dumb son of a bitch":
Truman said he cursed so frequently because of the time he spent living in a camp for people experiencing homelessness in Santa Fe. Years after he fired general Douglas MacArthur, Truman was quoted in Time saying, “I fired him because he wouldn’t respect the authority of the president. I didn’t fire him because he was a dumb son of a bitch, although he was, but that’s not against the law for generals. If it was, half to three-quarters of them would be in jail.”
What's more, Truman's own campaign slogan, "Give 'Em Hell, Harry," was flagged for being on the raunchier side. Truman later said, “I never did give them hell. I just told the truth, and they thought it was hell.”
11.Andrew Jackson cursed so often in front of his parrot that it unleashed a long string of cuss words in front of the crowd at Jackson's funeral:
I'm beyond obsessed with this story and am lamenting the fact that I was never taught this in the countless history courses I've taken over the years.
Andrew Jackson gifted his wife an African gray parrot named Poll. After the first lady died, Jackson ended up spending a lot of time with the bird, who picked up on some of Jackson's foul-mouthed habits. Poll was present at Jackson's 1845 funeral, where he reportedly began spewing out curse word after curse word in front of the crowd.
According to the Washington Post, Poll “let loose perfect gusts of ‘cuss words,’” so many that people were “horrified and awed at the bird’s lack of reverence.” The bird finally “had to be carried from the house.”
