MAGA loves bad dads

[marmar]

MAGA loves bad dads
Raising kids should be about quality, not quantity

By Amanda Marcotte
Senior Writer
Published February 16, 2026 6:45AM (EST)


(Salon) ....(snip)....

But MAGA media has a very different idea of how to measure the worth of a father. They believe it’s by how many kids he has produced. In this worldview, the father deserves most of the credit, despite putting almost no effort into the production side of having babies. In an era when most people can barely afford to raise one kid, this focus on quantity isn’t just tone-deaf. It reduces kids to a commodity, which in turn encourages neglectful, toxic or even abusive approaches to parenting.

Before his death, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was a perfect example of these damaging ideas. He hyped the idea that having “a ton of children” is inherently virtuous, at least for white people. (He was less happy about Black people having a lot of kids.) But Kirk also argued that people should “get married young and have more kids than they can afford” — a message that was no doubt pleasing to his old-fashioned GOP donors who want their daughters to give up their careers and move back to their parents’ suburban neighborhoods. But for actual families, it’s a bad idea, especially as Republicans like Kirk want to simultaneously gut public education and social spending. Growing up in poverty isn’t fun or romantic. It’s stressful and leads to long-term problems for a lot of kids.

....(snip)....

Most famously, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is so obsessed with having kids — he has at least 14 — that he reportedly hits up women he’s never met up on X, asking them to have babies for him, often through in vitro fertilization. He is exhibit number one in why this casual conflation of quantity with quality in fatherhood is so misguided.

Musk is a terrible father. This is most obvious when it comes to his eldest daughter, who he has reportedly rejected for being transgender. But the billionaire appears to have a strained relationship with many of his children, in no small part because he can’t stop getting into pointless conflicts with their many mothers. He appears to be estranged from his young son with reformed influencer Ashley St. Clair; apparently he’s mad at her for trying to get him to acknowledge their child. Musk does seem attached to X, a son he had with the musician Grimes, but he’s been accused of neglecting his other children with her and refusing her visitation time with her son. ................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/02/16/maga-loves-bad-dads/

[CanonRay]

1. That will be 14 really messed up adults

in the next decade.

[Blue Owl]

2. A bunch of creepy, sick fucks

Keep them FAR AWAY from ALL children

[harumph]

3. Children of the corn vibes

or The Boys from Brazil...