Right-wing commentator and Fox News exile Tucker Carlson rallied a crowd in Georgia by comparing a potential Trump victory to "Dad coming home" to give a "vigorous spanking" to a "bad little girl." The "bad little girl" was apparently a metaphor for Americans who voted for President Joe Biden, with Carlson saying the country needs a patriarchal savior like former President Donald Trump after misbehaving in the previous election.
“If you allow your 2-year-old to smear the contents of his diapers on the wall of your living room and you do nothing about it, if you allow your 14-year-old to light a joint at the breakfast table, if you allow your hormone-addled 15-year-old daughter to slam the door of her bedroom and give you the finger, you’re gonna get more of it and those kids are going to wind up in rehab,” Carlson, who has three adult daughters, said at the pro-Trump Turning Point USA event. “It’s not good for you and it’s not good for them. No, there has to be a point at which dad comes home.”
Carlson, now shouting, said that when “dad” Trump comes home, “he’s pissed” but “not vengeful” and “loves his children, disobedient as they may be," even if he's also “very disappointed in their behavior.”
“When Dad gets home, you know what he says?” Tucker asked, a smile beginning to crack on his face. “‘You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking, right now. And no, it's not going to hurt me more than it hurts you, I'm not gonna lie, it's going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me, and you earned this."
Carlson's comments, which drew loud cheers, prompted the crowd to shout “Daddy’s home” and “Daddy Don" when Trump later stepped onto the stage. Outside the rally, Trump's opponents and former cabinet officials have another label for him: "fascist." Carlson's fantasies of vigorously spanking the body politic by a harsh but loving patriarch provided even more fodder for that line of attack, with journalist Aaron Rupar describing the remarks as "the most overtly fascist thing I've seen at any Trump rally."
