By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) stirred up some controversy with some unsettling remarks during a Fox News segment, enthusiastically predicting public approval for the president’s forthcoming policies.
“When Americans see deportations or repatriations happen, they’re gonna be like, ‘Thank you!’ When they see the border closed, they’re gonna say, ‘This is what I voted for,’” Donalds said. “When they see peace starting to break out again around the world, they’re gonna be like, ‘This is the stability that we were asking for.’ Daddy’s back! And that’s what you’re going to see.”
The trend of using the paternal term continued with Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), who tweeted, “Daddy’s home!!” alongside an image of the president in TIME magazine. Charlie Kirk, founder of the right-wing Turning Point USA, also embraced this narrative, posting, “Dad is home,” next to the president’s official portrait.
MAGA rapper Tom McDonald and comedian Roseanne Barr joined to release a track titled “Daddy’s Home,” in which they chant, “We won, you mad, it’s done, too bad, boo-hoo, so sad, now your daddy’s home.” Kid Rock also tapped into this rhetoric at a pre-inauguration concert, roaring to his audience, “Check the stats, stop throwin’ stones! Straighten up, sucker, ‘cuz daddy’s home!”
Criticism of the language was immediate and severe. Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., president and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association and a former NAACP president, criticized the use of “daddy” to describe the president.
Chavis declared that Donalds’ comment was highly inappropriate and wreaked of submissiveness.
“Daddy is not home; Donald Trump is not our daddy. He’s the president of the United States. No matter who’s in the White House, they’re not ‘daddy,’” Chavis said in a decisive rebuke of the congressman.
“This shows another bending of the knee, another kissing of the ring when people need to be objective. Black people, in particular, should never stoop to being submissive to power,” he said.
Journalist Ahmed Baba also responded to the trend with alarm and embarrassment.
“No amount of money or power is worth going on national television and calling Donald the president ‘Daddy.’ I would spontaneously combust from embarrassment. I could never show my face in public again. I would exile myself in the Himalayas; this is flabbergasting,” Baba commented.
David Ryan Miller, an associate professor at American University, joined in the critique, noting that Donalds’ comment contradicts the alpha male image promoted by the president’s supporters.
“Don’t all of the Trumpists aspire to be alpha males? Is there anything more beta than referring to another man as ‘daddy’?” Miller questioned.
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