Trump's MAGA party goes full strict 'daddy'

At a Trump rally in Georgia last week, right-wing propagandist Tucker Carlson gave a clear glimpse of the "strict father" morality underlying the Republican Party.

In his speech, Carlson described American voters as misbehaving children in need of strong punishment from an angry father.

From "Tucker Carlson’s ‘daddy’ comments speak volumes about the far right" by Talia Lavin on MSNBC:

After describing the American public as “a 2-year-old smearing the contents of his diapers on the wall” and “a hormone-addled 15-year-old girl slamming the door and giving you the finger,” a red-faced [Tucker] Carlson proposed a solution. “There has to be a point at which Dad comes home,” he said, to full-throated cheers from the crowd. “Dad comes home and he’s pissed. He’s not vengeful, he loves his children. Disobedient as they may be, he loves them, because they’re his children. … 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. It’s 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, and it has to be this way.”

And when Dad gets home, you know what he says? You’ve been a bad little girl, and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now.

The crowd went wild. 

Opinion | Tucker Carlson’s ‘daddy’ comments speak volumes about the far-right

The right-wing firebrand’s fantasy about Trump spanking America like a bad little girl is exactly what authoritarian conservatives want to hear.

MSNBCTalia Lavin, freelance writer and book author

This is not the first time a Republican has compared Trump to directly to a strict father. But it is a very prominent use of the strict father metaphor in the closing days of the 2024 campaign.

Strict father morality – and the importance of understanding the family metaphor in order to understand political morality – was a key point of Dr. Lakoff's 1996 book Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. He expanded on the subject in Don't Think of An Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate, as well as in subsequent books.

Wrote Dr. Lakoff in 2014:

On the whole, the right wing is attempting to impose a strict father ideology on America and, ultimately, the rest of the world. Although the details vary with conservative areas of concern, there are general tendencies. Many progressives underestimate just how radical an ideology this is.

We'll have more to say on how Strict Father morality has tried to dominate the 2024 election.

In the meantime, if you still have a hard time understanding why so many American voters continue to embrace Trump, here is some helpful material:

• "The Strict Father Model is the Core of Conservative Politics," by George Lakoff
• "How Republicans Really Think" (FrameLab podcast)
• "Understanding Trump" by George Lakoff