Tucker’s Authoritarian Rant

Apparently, some of us have been a "bad little girl" who needs a "vigorous spanking" (and I quote).

Carlson provides here a blatantly authoritarian metaphor wherein the American people are described as disorderly children who need a powerful father to come home and beat them into submission.

He talks about punishment being “justice” and the “purest and best thing there is” as a specific appeal to order. This is justice-as-violence to force desired behaviors. This is a fascistic worldview. It is certainly authoritarian rhetoric.

The main appeal, historically, for authoritarianism is that it promises order. It certainly is a great way to appeal to otherwise comfortable people: scare them into thinking they are under threat and then promise to provide order. Of course, never mind that things are actually pretty orderly, on balance.

It is specifically what Trump does with immigration and crime.

For example:

Note the lies about the situation to create fear and then the promise of confrontation.

Additional thoughts on the Carlson clip.

  1. Some of the January 6th insurrectionists did smear feces on the walls of the US Capitol.
  2. The “bad little girl” stuff is just creepy and weird.
  3. The notion that, in his little fantasy “it is going to hurt you more than it hurts me” is rather disturbing.

And a passing reminder of a recent post: Tucker Carlson Promotes Hitler Apologist.

FILED UNDER: 2024 Election, US Politics, ,
Steven L. Taylor
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog). Follow Steven on Twitter and/or BlueSky.

Comments

  1. Michael Reynolds's avatar Michael Reynolds says:

    Question: What color panties are the American people wearing during this?

    2
  2. al Ameda's avatar al Ameda says:

    Clearly, Tucker likes to be dominated.

  3. Kathy's avatar Kathy says:

    I wouldn’t touch Ftucker, but I’d gladly paddle him with an Aztec maze

    3
  4. Jen's avatar Jen says:

    Oh, this is the event at which Trump stated that he somehow stopped a war with the French.

    I am so done with these @ssh0les.

    7
  5. Mikey's avatar Mikey says:

    I only had one dad and he’s dead. I don’t need fascist traitors like Fucker Carlson telling me I need another one, especially not one like fascist traitor Donald Trump.

    What really gets me is how he expresses so much joy in the prospect of hurting someone he perceives as having “misbehaved.” And it’s a girl, because of course it has to be with this sick piece of shit.

    8
  6. dazedandconfused's avatar dazedandconfused says:

    It got even creepier, the crowd responded by greeting Trump with chants of “Daddy’s home!” Suppress that reflexive urk folks, still weeks to go.

    2
  7. JohnMc's avatar JohnMc says:

    Remember when Dems were reviled as the ‘mommy party’? Good times.

    3
  8. Kurtz's avatar Kurtz says:

    @dazedandconfused:

    Is this true?

    Either way, I’d rather hear the crowd say itrather than Trump himself.

  9. dazedandconfused's avatar dazedandconfused says:

    @Kurtz:

    As reported by CNN.

    I’m ready for silly season to end. Not that it ever really does, or anything…

    1
  10. Scott's avatar Scott says:

    But the MAGA folks are offended at Trump, Vance, and the rest of them being considered weird. Let’s try pathetic instead. Unmanly. The list could go on.

    I remember reading a history book: it was The Arms of Krupp or The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich where in the decades prior to WWI, German (Prussian) society went into a hyper masculine phase that sounds so similar to what we are hearing today. Downright demented.

    6
  11. DK's avatar DK says:

    “Don’t call us weird!”

    6
  12. Gustopher's avatar Gustopher says:

    Somewhere, someone who would have really enjoyed hearing someone say “Daddy’s home. You’ve been a bad, bad girl and you need to be spanked” has just had that little fantasy destroyed. They will never be able to associate it with anyone other than Tucker Carlson.

    That guy ruins everything.

    5
  13. Jake's avatar Jake says:

    Tucker was great. Trump 2024

  14. jake's avatar jake says:
  15. Eusebio's avatar Eusebio says:

    A couple of tidbits from Stephen Colbert, after playing the “You’ve been a bad, bad girl and you need to be spanked” clip tonight:

    I just can’t figure out why they’re having trouble appealing to female voters.

    Not to fact check you there, Tuck, but we know from Stormy Daniels that daddy’s the one who likes to get spanked.

    8
  16. DK's avatar DK says:

    @jake: https://x.com/PettyLupone/status/1849656335459119560?t=FFq4AvCpp-Wo25tubCWpZA&s=19

    A rally for Kamala Harris pulled 23,000 excited American patriots to a Georgia stadium on Wednesday. Like a majority of Americans, these voters are fired up to defeat corrupt Putin-puppet Trump and his treasonous Bond-villain running mate Leon Musk.

    Meanwhile, with news of his Hitler fandom breaking thorough, the elderly, exhausted 78-year-old rapist Trump barely filled a capacity 5,000 room in Arizona. Yikes!

    BTW Arizona, birthplace of Reagan conservatism, now has a Democratic governor, Sec. of State, and senator thanks to the unlikeable, unpopular, unstable Trump’s failure as a president and a man.

    Womp womp.

    10
  17. DK's avatar DK says:

    @Eusebio:

    Not to fact check you there, Tuck, but we know from Stormy Daniels that daddy’s the one who likes to get spanked.

    Lolol

    4
  18. Jake's avatar Jake says:

    @DK:

    They left after Springsteen was done

    1
  19. Jake's avatar Jake says:

    2 weeks before Kamala was installed ,Washington post was trying to figure out how to get Kamala out . They didn’t want her as a President nominee. 2 weeks later she walks on water. A joke

  20. Jake's avatar Jake says: