Tucker Carlson on Trump’s election: ‘There has to be a point at which Dad comes home’

Tucker Carlson addressed a raucous crowd in Georgia on Wednesday, where he compared former President Trump's prospective return to the White House to a dad returning home, adding that he would give the country a "vigorous spanking."

“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,” Carlson, the former Fox News host, said at a Turning Point USA event that Trump also addressed. 

“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 continued.

"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.'"

Carlson’s remarks quickly went viral on social media, drawing confused responses from some Democrats.

“This is fucking weird,” James Singer, a Harris campaign spokesperson, posted on X.

“what the actual…” Kate Bedingfield, a former top Biden White House official, posted on X.

Carlson is wildly popular among Trump’s base, as evidenced by the raucous reception he received when he spoke at the Republican National Convention in July.

The former Fox News anchor has been hosting a slew of live events in recent weeks with prominent Republican Party figures, including Trump's running mate, Sen. JD Vance (Ohio). But Trump has not appeared alongside Carlson on the campaign trail so far.

Carlson was fired from Fox News after the company paid more than $787 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over false statements and conspiracy theories the host and the network made about the company after the 2020 election.