Celebrities in the manosphere – including alleged sexual predators like Tate – are a symptom of a resurgent political misogyny.
Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, speak to the media outside their residence on March 23, 2025, in Bucharest, Romania.
(Andrei Pungovschi/Getty Images) Saturday, federal marshals in Miami arrested Andrew and Tristan Tate, two brothers who run a social media empire in which they claim to be the voices of male empowerment, are accused of rape and sex trafficking. The arrest came after an extradition request from British authorities (the Tates have dual British and American nationality). The brothers had previously been arrested for rape and trafficking in Romania and the United Kingdom. As The New York Times reportsthe new accusations against the brothers are serious, as are the accusations against them in ongoing criminal proceedings in Romania:
The new charges against Andrew Tate, 39, include seven counts of rape; three counts of sex trafficking; three counts of assault; and 19 other charges related to sexual images of children and “extreme pornography.”
Tristan Tate, 38, faces two new rape charges; one count of sexual assault; and three counts of sex trafficking….
In Romania, where the Tates previously lived, prosecutors investigated allegations that they forced dozens of women, including a 17-year-old girl, to engage in pornography. They also investigated Andrew Tate over allegations he raped one of the women and had sex with a 15-year-old.
In June, The New Yorker published a detailed report by Heidi Blake who highlighted, in harrowing detail, the despicable nature of these alleged crimes. Several women told Blake that they had been manipulated, sexually tortured and raped by the Tate brothers. (The Tates have denied any wrongdoing.) These actions, Blake wrote, were motivated by a bluntly misogynistic ideology often expressed by the brothers and also served an economic purpose.
The Tates ran a webcam-pornography empire in which many of the women they employed had been groomed for the work. The business model consisted of paying these employees as little as possible. The verbal and sexual violence allegedly inflicted on them appears to have served to maintain low wages.
In an online network called The War Room, Andrew Tate offers courses on pimping, or, as he once put it, recruiting women for “sexual slavery.” On one occasion, Tate told his students, “You have to fuck them, and they have to like you. It’s essential for the business. You have to be militant with your fucking pimp.” He would ask women who work for him to get “belonging to Tate” tattoos.
These allegations are horrific enough on their own. But these problems are compounded by Tates’ level of influence, which extends far beyond the online confines of the so-called “manosphere.” The Tate brothers have been deeply allied with MAGA for years, with Andrew Tate maintaining personal relationships with key figures in Trump’s orbit, including Trump’s youngest son, Barron.
As The New York Times reported in December 2025:
As his notoriety grew, Andrew Tate shrewdly courted Tucker Carlson and other right-wing media stars, who in turn tapped into the brothers’ loyalties to expand their own reach.
Andrew also cultivated relationships with Donald Trump Jr. and his younger brother Barron, who recognized the role young male voters could play in returning their father to power.
Barron, now 19, admired Andrew and spoke to him on Zoom last year, according to Justin Waller, a mutual friend who was on the call. During the call, they discussed their shared belief that the Romanian criminal case was an attempt to silence the Tates, he said.
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These relationships have largely borne fruit; As Donald Trump prepared to take back the White House in January 2025, his new administration successfully pressured the Romanian government to remove travel restrictions preventing the Tates from leaving the country and returning to the United States.
There is obviously a selfish element in forming these bonds. But there is also ample evidence that the Tates and their MAGA allies share the same hateful worldview.
Andrew Tate began a relationship with Donald Trump Jr. shortly after the 2016 election. After a visit to Trump Tower, Tate job a photo of him shaking hands with the president’s eldest son, accompanied by a note saying “The Tate family supports Trump FULLY. MAGA!” On another occasion, Tate praised Donald Trump, saying, “He grabs bitches by the pussy. I like that guy.”
Andrew Tate is also an open admirer of Trump’s longtime friend Jeffrey Epstein. In a deleted tweet, he once wrote: “EVERYONE wants to be friends with the pimp. Do you doubt me? EPSTEIN HAD ACCESS TO PUSSY. Look at his fucking friends list.”
In describing Tate’s “empire of abuse,” Blake makes clear that the accused predator is a low-rent Jeffrey Epstein. The two men recruited young women (some of whom were believed to be children) through modeling agencies. They would shower these potential victims with attention and affection. They both operated in obscure political jurisdictions to circumvent the law (Epstein’s private island, Romania). Both benefited from friendships with elite political and media figures. Both justified their actions by a nihilistic philosophy of the Darwinian right of the strong to dominate the weak.
Perhaps the main difference between Epstein and the Tate is cultural style. Epstein was a centrist elitist who had ties to Ivy League academics, particularly at Harvard. As such, he belonged to a historical period where even monstrous criminals tried to make their actions look respectable. Tate is emblematic of a cruder, more populist era: a social media influencer whose influence comes from his hateful, unapologetic vulgarity.
It is hardly surprising that Donald Trump had a former close companion in Epstein, while two of his sons fell under the influence of Tate.
The common thread in this story is misogyny. Trump’s own sexual predations (the famous “grab ’em by the pussy”) REMARKTHE sexual assault on E. Jean Carroll) may embarrass some of his supporters, but they also excite others. Trump and Trumpism have become rallying points for a misogynistic backlash against feminism. This reactionary movement has only intensified in response to the #MeToo movement.
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As Blake reports, Tate’s decidedly misogynistic and abusive actions enjoyed strong support from many MAGA luminaries:
When Tate was arrested for human trafficking, his allies defended him. Donald Trump Jr. called the affair “absolute madness” and [Elon] Musk suggested authorities were targeting the Tates while ignoring “real sex trafficking.” [Tucker] Carlson, who had just released a documentary called “The End of Men,” devoted airtime to proclaiming Tate’s innocence; so does right-wing podcaster Candace Owens. Activist Charlie Kirk congratulated him on stage. “What he says is so powerful,” Kirk said. “Our society is set up to bring down the American man. »
Granted, not everyone in MAGAworld agreed. There were important dissents by Ben Shapiro and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly said of Tate: “It’s actually toxic masculinity. » But these critics were minority voices within MAGA.
If a feminist wanted to insult MAGA, she might say that Andrew Tate is the ultimate embodiment of right-wing masculinity. Tellingly, too many people in MAGA would probably agree.
Damn Lord Jeet Heer is national affairs correspondent for The nation and host of the weekly Nation podcast, Time of the Monsters. He also writes the monthly column “Morbid symptoms.” The author of Art lovers: the adventures of Françoise Mouly in comics with Art Spiegelman (2013) and Sweet Lechery: reviews, essays and profiles (2014), Heer has written for numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The American perspective, The guardian, The New RepublicAnd The Boston Globe.
