Rep. Byron Donalds appears to be excited by President-elect Trump’s return to the White House, calling the next leader of the U.S. “daddy” over the weekend.
Speaking to Fox News on Sunday, the Florida Republican said he believes Americans will thank Trump as soon as new policies, including deportations, are enacted.
“When Americans see deportations or repatriations happen, they’re gonna be like, ‘Thank you,’” Donalds said. “When they see the border closed, they’re gonna say, ‘This is what I voted for.’ 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,” he added.
Social media users seemed uncomfortable with the comment, with some calling the “daddy” remark “creepy” and “weird.”
But Donalds isn’t the only figure on the right to refer to Trump in such a manner.
On Sunday, Rep. Lauren Boebert took to X to post a photo of TIME Magazine’s cover of Trump, captioning her post: “Daddy’s home!”
Turning Point USA cofounder Charlie Kirk also posted a photo of Trump on X with the caption “Dad is home.”
But it seems former Fox News host Tucker Carlson may be the one to first refer to Trump as a father figure.
In October, Carlson predicted Trump would win the election and “spank” America like a misbehaving child.
“When Dad gets home, you know what he says? ‘You’ve been a bad girl,’” Carlson said at the time. “‘You’ve been a bad little girl and you’re getting a vigorous spanking right now.’”
