Right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson claimed that President Donald Trump winning the presidential election in November would be like a father coming home and disciplining his misbehaving children.
“You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now,” Carlson said at one point during his speech at Turning Point Action’s rally in Georgia on Wednesday.
The ousted Fox News host argued that “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 like slam the door of her bedroom and give you the finger, you’re going to get more of it.”
“And those kids are going to wind up in rehab. It’s not good for you, and it’s not good for them,” he continued. “No. There has to be a point at which dad comes home. Yeah, that’s right, dad comes home. And he’s pissed. Dad is pissed. He’s not vengeful, he loves his children. Disobedient as they may be, he loves them because they’re his children, they live in his house. But he’s very disappointed in their behavior and he’s going to have to let them know.”
Carlson added moments later: “And when dad gets home, you know what he says? 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, no it’s not. I’m not going to lie, this is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this: you’re getting a vigorous spanking because you’ve been a bad girl.”
Carlson went back to the same line later on in his speech, saying Democrats need to lose and “when they tell you they’ve won, no! You can look them straight in the face and say, ‘I’m sorry. Dad’s home. And he’s pissed.’
Carlson’s comments have roiled online critics.
“That is some sick, twisted stuff! You’re going to spank a 15 year old girl?” asked one person.
“My god, this is creepy AF,” commented someone else.
“As a father of four children, including two daughters, this might be the single most disgusting diatribe I ever heard. I can’t even….” replied another person.
“People are noting the creepiness…. but its also the infantilization of Americans,” responded someone else. “We’re not children in need of politicians to discipline us, the people are in charge and we’re hiring a president to serve us. Tucker is offering an authoritarian and unAmerican worldview.”
But the right-wing fans in attendance seemed to admire Carlson’s comparison.
According to CNN, when Trump himself took the stage, audience members began screaming “Daddy’s home” and “Daddy Don.”
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.