The Tate brothers have been ‘rescued’. At the end of last week, influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate left Romania, where they were being investigated for allegations of human trafficking, money laundering and rape. The pair, who hold dual American and British citizenship, arrived by private jet in Florida 12 hours later. They insist they are ‘misunderstood’ and that the charges against them are a ‘conspiracy’. It seems there are some in the White House who agree.
Although US president Donald Trump claims to know nothing about the Tates’ release from Romania (where the legal case against them has not been dropped and they remain ‘under judicial control’), it looks likely that prosecutors there acquiesced to a request from the White House to remove travel restrictions on the brothers. Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, was said to have been surprised by their arrival, which he apparently learnt of through the media. To his credit, he has since said they are not welcome in his state.
The Tates, it’s fair to say, divide opinion. On social media, at least. To some, they represent the downfall of civilisation, the corruption of youth and a two-man justification for restrictions on free speech. To others, the brothers are persecuted role models who embody the kind of no-nonsense, tough-guy masculinity that could save a generation of lost young men. Both of these extremes speak more to commentators’ own concerns and fears about the world today, and about teenage boys in particular, than the Tates’ actual influence. Many in Trump’s orbit seem to fall firmly into the latter camp. They imagine the Tates not as the vile misogynists they clearly are (and in Andrew’s case, has himself admitted to being), but as truth-speaking, macho martyrs.
Every time he opens his mouth, Andrew Tate proves himself to be a gross stain on humanity. He has expressed a preference for 19-year-old women over older women because they are ‘fresh’ and easier for him to ‘put [his] imprint on’. He said he prefers petite women, because ‘I will pick you up with one hand, by your titty’. In a video captioned ‘How Tate handles his girls’, he talks about hitting an imaginary woman and says: ‘Slap, slap, grab, choke, shut up, bitch, sex.’ In another, he imagines what he would do if a woman accused him of cheating: ‘It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up, bitch!’
And it’s not just Andrew Tate’s words that are disturbing. There is a video of him appearing to hit a woman with a belt. Another shows him telling a woman to count the bruises he apparently left on her. He claims that ‘probably 40 per cent of the reason’ he moved to Romania is because of its laxer enforcement of rape laws.
Then, of course, there are the actual charges being brought against him in the UK and Romania for, variously, alleged rape, trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women.
Despite all this, the Tates seem to be in good favour with the White House. The Sunday Times reports that Romanian prosecutors ceded to a request from the Trump administration to lift travel restrictions on the pair, which then allowed them to travel to Florida. Romania’s foreign minister has previously said that a Trump envoy raised the Tate brothers’ case during a conversation at the Munich Security Conference in Germany a fortnight ago. The question is: why? Why go out on a limb to rescue these scumbags from potential criminal proceedings?
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the MAGA movement, at times, struggles to differentiate between what is popular with the general public and what is trending on social media. In reality, those who are most online are far from representative of the population as a whole, as the Tate brothers neatly demonstrate.
Nevertheless, Andrew Tate’s more than 10million followers on X alone seems to have cast a spell over the Very Online right. Tate used his platform to urge people to vote for Trump – a fact he is rumoured to have reminded the president’s team about in the past few weeks. The guarantee of safe passage could be repayment for the endorsement, even though it is highly unlikely to have been pivotal in the election. If anything, the Tates will be deeply offensive to many Trump voters who hold socially conservative values.
Social-media followings do not equate to public support. Nor do they necessarily represent agreement. Followers are not necessarily fans. Indeed, some are looking to be outraged and titillated – and the Tate brothers certainly deliver that in spades.
Might the outrage factor also be a reason for Team Trump’s embrace of the Tates? Some in Trump’s circle seem to set so much store by generating outrage – or ‘owning the libs’ – that they have carried social-media trolling over into the real world. Stupid stunts, such as mimicking fascist salutes, have garnered furious column inches and cause widespread offence, but for no discernible political gain. Winding up your opponents won’t improve your voters’ lives.
More disturbing is the prospect that the Trump administration is sheltering the Tate brothers not as a reward for online loyalty, nor as a pathetic attempt at trolling, but out of genuine admiration for the pair. Several years ago now, Donald Trump Jr met Andrew Tate at Trump Tower and posted excitedly about it on Facebook afterwards: ‘The Tate family supports Trump FULLY. MAGA!’ Many around Trump, including first buddy Elon Musk, similarly seem to idolise Tommy Robinson – another Brit with dodgy views and a long criminal rap sheet. Like the Tates, Robinson is also feted by MAGA types as a voice of the forgotten people, despite his deep unpopularity in the UK. He’s also seen as a helpless victim of an elite conspiracy, despite his well-documented bad behaviour and transparent grifting.
Those advising Trump need to do some actual research and seriously rethink who they are rolling out the red carpet for. Above all, they need to stop confusing online outrage-merchants and scumbags for tribunes of the people.
