Tate Brothers’ Return to U.S. Opens Rift in MAGA World
Three days ago, accused rapist and sex trafficker Andrew Tate uploaded a short video to his Rumble channel titled “The Age of Winning.” In a monologue that plays over a montage of masculine movie characters, footage from President Trump‘s 2024 election campaign, and Tate himself, the manosphere influencer exhorts viewers to “do whatever it takes to win, because that’s what Trump did, and now he’s the most powerful man in the world.”
On Thursday, Tate’s continued and full-throated support for Trump, broadcast to an audience of millions of young men who lap up his misogynist alpha-male ideology, paid off handsomely: he and brother Tristan Tate, who have been prosecuted for sex trafficking in Romania since 2023, were allowed to fly to the United States after the country lifted restrictions on their travel, reportedly under pressure from the White House. (The pair have dual citizenship in the U.K. and U.S.) They arrived in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The Tates’ chosen destination — though it’s unclear whether they’ll remain in the Sunshine State — immediately set off a dispute within right-wing circles. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled his displeasure at receiving the brothers while they still face charges in both Romania and the U.K., where they are subject to arrest as part of an investigation into allegations of rape and human trafficking. “Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct,” DeSantis said in a press conference where he revealed that his office had not been informed of the Tates’ travel and had only learned they were in the state through media reports. He also said that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was exploring legal options “to deal with this.” Uthmeier later said in a post on X that he had opened a “preliminary inquiry” into the Tates and would “hold them accountable” if their alleged crimes triggered Florida jurisdiction.
The Tates’ attorney, Joseph McBride, wrote on X that DeSantis had “disgraced himself” with his comments, but he wasn’t the only one outraged. MAGA conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer shared the clip from the governor’s presser on X and wrote: “The Tate brothers are US citizens. Good thing Ron isn’t President.” Her post was quoted by far-right commentator Candace Owens, who concurred: “Utterly deranged thing for a Governor of any state to say,” she observed, adding, “Yes — good thing he is not President.” Owens then falsely quoted DeSantis as saying, “If the mainstream media doesn’t like you, you will not be allowed into America. Your citizenship does not matter.”
Meanwhile, others in conservative media voiced their concern over Trump aligning himself with the Tates after an election season in which he courted young male voters by appearing on podcasts and streaming channels thematically adjacent to theirs. “Any organization or host who embraces [Andrew Tate] is engaged in far worse than simple grift, though it is that,” Jeremy Boreing, CEO of The Daily Wire, posted on X. “Andrew Tate is the enemy of any traditional American conservatism.” His colleague Ben Shapiro also took aim at the self-proclaimed “Top G,” stating, “America does not need more self-proclaimed pimps and terror supporters with outstanding criminal allegations of sex trafficking and a history of pornographic distribution, plus a grift ‘university’ that suckers young men out of thousands of dollars.” (The Tates have offered expensive online courses to their followers that purport to teach them principles of financial success; Shapiro’s mention of “terror” apparently refers to Andrew Tate’s criticisms of Israel and pro-Palestine remarks.)
Indeed, the right-wingers expressing their opposition to the Tates on Thursday tended to argue that the brothers impart the wrong values to their impressionable audience. One verified X account with more than 300,000 followers shared a meme of Andrew Tate as a Trojan horse containing “Islam,” “Narcissism,” and “Materialsm/hedonism.” (Tate claims to have converted to Islam in 2022.) But a few were more preoccupied with what it meant that Trump’s administration had apparently facilitated the brothers’ escape from Romania. “I voted for an administration that would stop human trafficking at our borders,” wrote Abby Libby, the host of a conspiracy podcast, on X. “I voted to get rapists and pedophiles off the streets. Trump’s action in freeing the Tate brothers was a stunning betrayal of his mandate.” Talk radio host Erick Erickson fretted that “if Trump really did bless allowing the Tate brothers to come to the US, it would be the primary exhibit that his administration is guided by a hyper-online right that is very out of touch with the real world and needs to touch grass.”
As for Trump himself, whose special envoy Richard Grenell made the appeal to the Romanian government for the Tates’ release, the issue was easy enough to brush aside. Asked Thursday if the White House had played a role in freeing the brothers from custody, he denied having anything to do with their flight to Florida, saying, “I just know nothing about it. We’ll check it out, we’ll let you know.”