Daddy Issues: Why Republicans frame Trump as a father figure

Once you understand Strict Father Morality, you understand Republican politics

photo of Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson looks at Trump and see "Daddy." So do many other prominent Republicans.

In today's edition of FrameLab: A 4-minute read that explains why prominent Republicans keep referring to Donald Trump as "Daddy."

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Republican leaders keep infantilizing themselves on national television, and it's not an accident. Donald Trump’s supporters keep calling him "Daddy" – and they mean it. Once you understand why, you will hold the key to understanding the psychology of the Republican Party and the cult of Trump.

First, let’s examine this sudden outbreak of daddy talk.

“It’s like daddy arrived, and he’s taking his belt off, you know?” said actor Mel Gibson during a recent interview with Sean Hannity on Fox.

“Daddy's back!” exclaimed Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida after Trump’s inauguration. “Daddy’s home!” tweeted Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado. “Dad is home,” declared conservative troll Charlie Kirk. “Straighten up sucker, cuz daddy’s home!” sang Kid Rock at Trump’s inauguration party. “Now your daddy’s home,” jeered Roseanne Barr and Tom MacDonald in a bizarre Trump-themed rap song.

All this daddy talk is deliberate. Trump’s supporters have adopted “Daddy Trump” as a key talking point, and they are using this paternal label to send a message. Critics decry the daddy talk as creepy, weird, and paternalistic – and it is all of those things. But something much deeper is going on here, and it explains Republican politics in a nutshell.

Behind this chorus of "Dad's home!" lies a phenomenon Dr. George Lakoff spotted decades ago: a “strict father” framework that shapes Republican political thought. Lakoff argues that we process politics through family metaphors – since we are first governed in our families – and conservatives gravitate toward an authoritarian family model. Think of a strict father who rules through fear and punishment, demands absolute obedience, and allows no challenge to his authority.

Sound familiar? Lakoff calls this “strict father morality,” and it permeates Republican thought. As he wrote in The ALL NEW Don’t Think of An Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate:

The strict father model begins with a set of assumptions: The world is a dangerous place, and it always will be, because there is evil out there in the world. The world is also difficult because it is competitive. There will always be winners and losers. There is an absolute right and an absolute wrong.

Children are born bad, in the sense that they just want to do what feels good, not what is right. Therefore, they have to be made good. What is needed in this kind of a world is a strong, strict father who can:
• Protect the family in the dangerous world,
• Support the family in the difficult world, and
• Teach his children right from wrong.

What is required of the child is obedience, because the strict father is a moral authority who knows right from wrong. It is further assumed that the only way to teach kids obedience—that is, right from wrong—is through punishment, painful punishment, when they do wrong.

Painful punishment plays a key role in strict father morality. Notice how Mel Gibson portrays Trump as an angry father who is taking off his belt as if to beat a child with it. Gibson was talking about Trump’s visit to California, where he toured areas recently devastated by wildfires.

Who are the children Trump is planning to spank in Gibson’s metaphor? California Gov. Gavin Newsom? California’s majority of Democratic Party voters who supported Kamala Harris over Trump? Gibson doesn’t say, but he doesn’t have to – Trump’s supporters implicitly understand who deserves punishment.

Tucker Carlson sent the same violent message when he shared an intricate fantasy of Trump as an angry, punishing father doling out pain to a “bad little girl” during a speech in October:

You’ve been a bad girl. You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking, right now. … It’s going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me.

When Gibson and Carlson evoke the image of Trump spanking bad children, they’re not just being provocative. They’re tapping into a deep well of moral understanding. In the strict father world, good parents dole out physical punishment. Discipline equals love. Pain teaches. From The ALL NEW Don’t Think of An Elephant:

The rationale behind physical punishment is this: When children do something wrong, if they are physically disciplined, they learn not to do it again. That means that they will develop internal discipline to keep themselves from doing wrong, so that in the future they will be obedient and act morally. Without such punishment, the world will go to hell. There will be no morality.

These aren't just principles for raising children — they become blueprints for governing nations. This moral framework explains why Trump’s horrific threats to target political opponents and persecute immigrants get met with "Thank you, Daddy!" instead of horror. Protecting the family (read: nation) from supposed threats is a sacred duty in strict father morality. Harsh measures don't signal cruelty – they prove the father figure's commitment to protection and order. The strict father must be strong, must punish, must enforce rigid rules. Anything less is moral weakness.

Democrats often miss the point when they mock these "Daddy" references creepy or weird. Within strict father morality, submission to legitimate authority isn't weakness – it's virtue. The good child obeys. The good citizen submits to proper authority. Republicans aren't ashamed to call Trump "Daddy." They see it as an expression of proper moral alignment.

The strict father framework helps explain why standard liberal arguments bounce off Trump supporters like rubber balls off concrete. Appeals to compassion? Weakness. Calls for equality? Moral hazard. The strict father sees life as hard and dangerous. His job isn't to protect feelings but to toughen up his children to face a harsh world.

When Republicans call Trump “Daddy,” they're not kidding. Instead, they're powerfully reinforcing a moral architecture that exists in millions of American brains. It's a political worldview in which authority equals morality, punishment equals love, and the strict father's return promises the restoration of moral order.

This moral framework matters – a lot – because it exposes the true nature of our political divide. We're not just arguing about personalities and policies. We're clashing over fundamental moral visions of family, authority, and nationhood. The "Daddy Trump" chorus isn't a quirk or a joke – it's a window into how millions of Americans process political reality.

Republicans understand this. That's why they are openly using the strict father metaphor in 2025. Unfortunately, Democratic Party leaders still do not understand the moral nature of politics or why the family metaphor matters so much. They are still scratching their heads to figure out why so many Americans continue to support Trump, even as his supporters shout “Daddy!” from the rooftops.

If Democratic Party leaders want to save this nation from Trump's radical Republicanism, they must finally grasp the concept of strict father morality. Once you see how the daddy metaphor explains Republican politics, you can't unsee it – and you realize they use it everywhere.

Dr. Lakoff and I talked about strict father morality in Episode 1 of the FrameLab podcast. Listen below (or wherever you get your podcasts):

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