Tucker Carlson's decision to cast former President Donald Trump as an angry "daddy" who spanks the bad girls when he gets home spurred a dire directive Thursday from a Democratic strategist: "Call 911."
Maria Cardona appeared on CNN Thursday afternoon to unpack Carlson's riff on Trump as the violent father to a nation of young women deserving of punishment.
"If that dad came home, I'd say, 'Family called 911," Cardona said. "That is just creepy."
Cardona debated the impact of this message with former Trump White House communications director Mike Dubke, who admitted he did not know what to say about Carlson's speech at the Duluth, Georgia, event Wednesday night.
Carlson, the father of three adult daughters, had a lot to say on the subject of disobedient young women.
"When Dad gets home, you know what he says? You’ve been a bad girl," Carlson told the crowd. "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....It’s going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me."
The same day, Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign released an ad featuring a woman who suffered a miscarriage and then developed a deadly infection as doctors denied her abortion care.
As the camera focuses on the thick, jagged scar left from emergency surgery that now bisects her stomach, Trump says in a voiceover, "There has to be some form of punishment" for women who seek abortions.
"There has to be a point at which dad comes home," Carlson said hours later. "He says you've been a bad girl, you've been a bad little girl, and you're getting a vigorous spanking, right now."
On Thursday, Cardona and Dubke discussed the strong gender lines being drawn in the final days before Election Day on Nov. 5 and Trump team messaging doubling down on dominant masculinity.
Cardona argued it was ultimately a sign of weakness.
"That means they don't even have their base locked up," she said. "They should be very concerned."
While Dubke argued Carlson's message was a tactical move designed to reach unlikely voters, Cardona professed herself unconvinced and argued such antics only strengthened Harris' position.
"This is why I think Kamala Harris has a huge advantage," Cardona said. "She talks about her policies to lower the cost of groceries, she talks about how she's going to help business owners, she talks about how she's going to help people buy a house or pay for rent, get access to good health care."
The contrast created a no-brainer for Americans concerned about the economy, Cardona concluded.
"Donald Trump talks about the 'enemy from within,' talks about liking generals that are more like Hitler's generals," she said. "Those messages are things that are going to help Kamala Harris to tell those independent voters, and especially those Republicans, 'This is not what you want.'"
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