MAGA Has A Kink For ‘Daddy Trump’ — And Therapists Say It Makes Perfect Sense
No longer content with his five adult children, President Donald Trump is now desperate to be America’s “daddy.” Last week, the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, rather ickily invoked the word “daddy” while excusing Trump for using the f-word after Israel and Iran temporarily violated a ceasefire.“Daddy has to sometimes use strong language,” Rutte said with a laugh, while Trump, who was visiting for a NATO summit and meeting with Rutte, smiled on. Unfortunately for America, Team Trump latched onto the viral moment, posting a video on the White House’s official social media accounts that depicted Trump arriving and greeting world leaders at the summit. The clip was soundtracked to Usher’s “Daddy’s Home,” a song that’s as sexually suggestive as its title suggests. (“I ain’t gotta do a lot of flexing — uh-uh. Shorty, you already know what it is,” one lyric goes.) Many found the clip unbecoming, not to mention weirdly sexual, coming from an official White House account. (Granted, posting unbecoming, trollish content is kind of the current White House social media team’s thing.) “Nothing says presidential dignity like the official White House account cosplaying as a thirsty fan page,” one person replied to the post on X.Fox News went all-in on the “Daddy Trump” rebrand, in spite ― or maybe because of ― the other definition of daddy: Those who have a “daddy kink” or engage in “daddy dom” sexual role play use it all the time. “Soon, Africa will be calling him daddy, too,” Fox News host Jesse Watters said with a leer on Friday after showing a clip of Trump praising the looks of Hariana Veras, a Congolese journalist, during an Oval Office signing.Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was an early promoter of the “daddy Trump” moniker. While speaking at a Trump rally last October, Carlson compared the then-presidential nominee to an angry dad returning home to discipline a “bad little girl” with a “vigorous spanking.” (We guess America is the naughty teen in the scenario, though we’d very much like to be excluded from this narrative.)What’s going on here? Is America ― or at least MAGA America ― experiencing a mass psychosis? Is there such a thing as collective national daddy issues? Has any other politician ever kinkified themselves to this degree?We were made for this moment. HuffPost is committed to reporting the truth — and pointing out the absurdity of the Trump administration. Consider directly backing our work today.Joshua Terhune, a child therapist in Indianapolis, Indiana, who goes by “Mr. Joshua” on his popular TikTok channel, sees potential national daddy issues at play. “My initial reaction to the Usher video was, ‘Freud was right!’” Terhune said of the father of psychoanalysis in the early 20th century.“While [Sigmund] Freud may have held some problematic views, he definitely got a few things right,” Terhune said. He “argued that people often seek powerful authority figures to fulfill an unconscious desire for protection and guidance, just like a child does with a parent.”It’s interesting how Trump and his supporters are blurring these boundaries between a political official and an intimate relationship, Terhune said, and it seems “clear as day they are playing out some unresolved psychological dynamics.”One good thing to note about daddy issues as a whole? In general, today’s fathers are doing a better job of being emotionally present and available for their children, so widespread hang-ups about fathers will probably start to be on the decline.There are a few types of people who prefer a strong “daddy” figure in their political leaders.Conservatives, in particular, are pulled in by father-like leaders: President Ronald Reagan was nowhere near the likes of authoritarian leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Hungary’s Viktor Orbán (both whom Trump admires), but certain aspects of his presidency align with traits associated with strongmen: charisma wielded by a commanding older man, “a father knows best” approach to global and domestic threats. In his book “Moral Politics,” George Lakoff demonstrated how conservatives idealize a “strict father” model of morality, said Todd Belt, a professor and director of the political management program at George Washington University. “The father is strong and in charge of the family, and doles out discipline as needed. This is how conservatives view the proper role of government,” Belt told HuffPost. “So, this terminology of Trump as ‘daddy’ reinforces his relationship to his base.”Chip Somodevilla via Getty Images "Nothing says presidential dignity like the official White House account cosplaying as a thirsty fan page," one person replied to the "Daddy's Home" post on the official White House X account. But it’s not just MAGA conservatives who expect, and even thirst, for some patriarchal shading from their leaders. On TikTok, some Gen Z liberals have given California Gov. Gavin Newsom the “daddy Newsom” meme treatment. “In the U.S. in general, we expect our leaders to rescue us, discipline others, and model strength ― all traits we associate with a very traditional, and limiting, father archetype,” said Panicha McGuire, a therapist in San Diego, California.If the daddy figure reminds us that we’re the good guys, even better, she said.“The U.S. has deep intergenerational trauma tied to colonialism, capitalism and rigid gender role[s],” but instead of addressing that, we look to a strong leader to quell our concerns, McGuire explained. (In Trump’s case, quell our concerns by literally erasing and rewriting problematic chapters in our past and providing us with scapegoats.) “We don’t teach collective care or mutual responsibility, so we keep cycling through ‘father figures’ who offer authority instead of accountability,” McGuire said.The “daddy” talk also speaks to the appeal of authoritarianism to a certain segment of the population. Authoritarianism is characterized by a strong, centralized state with power concentrated in the hands of a single leader or a small group.“It’s not just branding; I look at it as more of a symbolic invitation back into a hierarchical, authoritarian family structure where power flows one way, and obedience is rewarded.”- Panicha McGuire, a therapist in San Diego, CaliforniaLike many strongman leaders of the past, Trump has leveraged his cult of personality to convince his followers that only he can protect them from any existing threat, whether it’s ruthless criminals at the border (“bad hombres”), protesters in the cities who may one day show up at your doorstep, or the perennial threat of “radical Islamic terrorism.” That’s why McGuire sees Trump’s embrace of the “Daddy Trump” image more eerie than icky.“It’s not just branding; I look at it as more of a symbolic invitation back into a hierarchical, authoritarian family structure where power flows one way, and obedience is rewarded,” she said. Humans tend to be drawn to force and domination. Authoritarianism ― and more specifically, fascism ― uses eroticism to attract and repel people. The ideology is alluring to some because it plays into both our cultural fetishization of masculinity and power, and our purported discomfort with authoritarianism and nationalism.As Vox noted in 2017, it’s the political forbiddenness of fascism in modern times that makes it so erotic ― something scholar Laura Catherine Frost describes in her book “Sex Drives: Fantasies of Fascism in Literary Modernism.”“Images of sexualized fascism derive their meaning precisely from the distance mainstream culture puts between itself and deviation,” Frost wrote.So using something as overtly sexualized as Usher’s ‘Daddy’s Home’ in an official White House post blurs the line between desire and dominance, McGuire explained. “Evoking not only patriarchal nostalgia but also a disturbing eroticization of control.” Anadolu via Getty ImagesRussia's Vladimir Putin is a strongman leader whom President Donald Trump admires.OK, but is the “daddy” thing still weird? Yes, yes, it is. In all his years of studying politics, Belt has yet to see a politician or their team embrace such a kinkified self-image. “Usually, politicians try to downplay anything sexual in nature because they think it undermines their credibility and perceived fitness for office,” he said. “I think this is more about appearing tough and in control rather than sexual.” As for why it appeals to Trump? He’s probably not particularly tuned in to the sexual connotations, but he’s all about projecting hypermasculinity. It’s why the president is seemingly so bothered by the “TACO” (Trump Always Chickens Out) nickname, Belt said. 20 Years Of Free JournalismYour Support Fuels Our MissionYour Support Fuels Our MissionFor two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission to keep us around for the next 20 — we can't do this without you.We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.We remain committed to providing you with the unflinching, fact-based journalism everyone deserves.Thank you again for your support along the way. We’re truly grateful for readers like you! Your initial support helped get us here and bolstered our newsroom, which kept us strong during uncertain times. Now as we continue, we need your help more than ever. We hope you will join us once again.Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.20 Years Of Free JournalismFor two decades, HuffPost has been fearless, unflinching, and relentless in pursuit of the truth. Support our mission to keep us around for the next 20 — we can't do this without you.Support HuffPostAlready contributed? Log in to hide these messages.“I think this ‘daddy’ stuff has less to do with sexuality than it has to do with the appearance of masculinity,” the professor said. “Trump loves to be perceived as manly and tough, and often surrounds himself with people he thinks are such.”