The Tate brothers, British-American dual citizens, have been accused of luring women to Romania and then forcing them to work as pornographic webcam performers. They are also being investigated for rape and human trafficking in Britain and were to be extradited there when the Romanian cases concluded.Goldberg doesn't mention the fact that Andrew Tate is probably the most admired person in the world among young males between the ages of 12 and 30. She does cite Tate's admiration for Donald Trump. If young men around the world really are becoming more politically right-wing, the brutal misogyny of Tate and his imitators is one of the main reasons.
Though they maintain their innocence, Andrew Tate, a self-described misogynist and the more famous of the two, has regularly boasted about abusing and pimping women. His method, he’s often said, was to seduce women and then pressure them into the sex trade. He offered to teach his technique to other men in online courses where students could earn “pimping hoes degrees.” Women who live in his compound, he said in one video, aren’t allowed to go out without him. Some are tattooed “owned by Tate.” He left a voice note for a British woman who accused him of rape saying, “The more you didn’t like it, the more I enjoyed it.”
When I learned that the Tates were on their way to America, I assumed they'd be warmly welcomed by the Republican Party as a whole. But there's been a mixed reaction:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Andrew Tate is not welcome in the state, shortly before the Internet personality and his brother touched down in Fort Lauderdale Thursday....One Republican group invited the Tate brothers to speak, while other Republicans denounced him:
DeSantis said his government had "no involvement" in the Tates' travel to the U.S. and that decisions to "rebuff" their entry were under the federal government's discretion.
"But the reality is, is no, Florida is not a place where you're welcome with that type of conduct," DeSantis said at a press conference.
The Tampa Bay Young Republicans tweeted an invitation to Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan to come speak to their group, drawing swift criticism....Former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis tweeted:
“You’ve lost your way boys,” was podcaster Megyn Kelly’s take....
Rachel Streve, the former chair of the Houston Young Republicans, tweeted that she understood the draw because “controversy’s a cheap thrill,” but this was “rolling out the red carpet for a pair of self-styled pimps and predators,” making her ponder “what broke in your heads to greenlight this.” ...
The TBYR tweet was denounced by Florida Young Republicans Chair Brandon Ludwig....
The Florida YRs followed up with a tweet stating “We rebuke and condemn” the TBYR invite for the Tate brothers “in the strongest possible terms,” adding that TBYR “has a long history of controversy and we believe this most recent action is worthy of its charter being revoked.”
No. Their entire brand is repugnant and should not be welcomed.
— Jenna Ellis 🐊 (@realJennaEllis) February 28, 2025
Free speech absolutism isn’t mutually exclusive with discernment!
Does this mean that the GOP is fully distancing itself from the Tates? Of course not. It means that the Tates are now a niche recruiting tool.
Over the years, I've told you how Republicans practice niche politics. Extreme, irrational, dangerous ideas are allowed to flourish on the right. "Mainstream" Republicans might reject these ideas, but they show up in communications channels that abut or overlap with "mainstream" GOP communications channels. The really extreme stuff leads gullible people to the GOP, while mainstream Republicans can reassure more sophisticated voters that the party isn't really like that. It's win-win for Republicans.
Remember when some Republicans couldn't stop talking about their certainty that Barack Obama had a fake birth certificate and was actually born in Kenya? That was birtherism. Many Republicans, including Donald Trump, eagerly adopted it in 2011 and 2012. Other Republicans, including 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney, rejected it. And then there were GOP responses that could be sorted into other categories, as Adam Serwer noted at the time:
Ironic Post-birtherism: Making humorous or ironic references to the idea that the president was not born in the United States as an attempt to signal solidarity with or otherwise placate those who genuinely believe the president was not born in the United States. Examples: Tim Pawlenty, Rep. Raul Labrador.This allowed voters to pick any response to birtherism that seemed correct to them, in the belief that that response represented the real Republican Party. Conspiracy-minded voters could embrace undiluted birtherism. Romney Republicans could tell themselves that the party rejected crackpottery. And people in the middle could tell themselves that Obama might not be lying about his place of birth, but he sure acts like a left-winger from the less developed world, doesn't he? Please note that all of the responses led to support for the Republican Party.
Pseudo-birtherism: An umbrella term that encompasses all the various modes of belief that involve embracing fictional elements of the president's background, from the belief that he is a secret Muslim to the idea that he was raised in Kenya. Includes highbrow forms of birtherism like the "Kenyan anti-colonialism" thesis and theories that his name was legally changed to "Barry Soetero," as well as the idea that Obama's "real father" was one of the handful of random black celebrities you can name off the top of your head. Examples: Newt Gingrich, Andrew C. McCarthy.
Trump's 2020 election lie worked the same way. Some people believed crazy theories about fake ballots made from Chinese bamboo and electronic vote rigging by means of satellites directed from the U.S. embassy in Rome (or the Vatican). Others said that the baroque conspiracy theories were a bit much, but the Deep State sure did suppress that Hunter Biden story in 2020, wouldn't you say?
The GOP welcomes QAnon fans while "responsible" Republicans distance themselves from QAnon. It welcomes Alex Jones fans while most Republicans distance themselves from Jones. It welcomes overt white supremacists while some in the party -- although fewer and fewer in the age of Trump -- decry them.
Inevitably, there's extremism creep. When COVID vaccines were first approved, then-president Trump boasted about them, and every governor in America, Republican as well as Democrat, embraced them -- yes, even Ron DeSantis. But the party became increasingly anti-vaccine, the way it became increasingly birtherist and conspiratorial about the 2020 election.
That's probably what will happen in the case of the Tates -- they'll continue to be denounced by some Republicans, while others embrace them. Maybe Trump will dine with them at Mar-a-Lago or invite them to the Oval Office, or maybe they'll just be seen hunting with Don Junior and hanging out with Elon Musk (who's a fan). Tate-averse Republicans will feel represented by the Tate denouncers in the party, while Tate's fans will conclude that the GOP is the Party of Tate. After a while, unless there's a serious backlash, Tateism will become mainstream in the GOP. But "mainstream" Republicans won't leave in disgust, because the embrace of Tate will seem to them like a phenomenon happening only in the fever swamps. They'll tell themselves that the party isn't really like that. It will be a comforting lie.