This is so shocking that I'm putting it all here.
Can MAGA Fight the Charges Against Andrew Tate?
PROMINENT MANOSPHERE INFLUENCERS and accused sex traffickers Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested by U.S. marshals in Miami last weekend, as they were set to host—what else?—a bare-knuckle boxing match.
Video of their arrest, which quickly went viral, showed Andrew Tate dressed in clamdigger pants and an unusual purple shirt unbuttoned down almost to his navel. But maybe the most surprising thing is that it happened on American soil at all.
That’s because, despite years of accusations involving rape and sex trafficking, the Tates have enjoyed a strangely close relationship with Trump world that seems to have extended to preferential treatment from the government. Andrew Tate has had numerous friendly conversations with Barron Trump and Donald Trump Jr., according to the New York Times. With the influencer brothers unable to leave Romania for years as the investigation went on, prominent Trump world figure Ric Grenell reportedly spoke to Romanian officials about their case. Soon after those conversations, the Tates were allowed to leave Romania.
Another time, after the troubled pair had their phones seized last year, Trump official Paul Ingrassia reportedly intervened to help them.¹ And just days before their arrest last weekend, the Tates were partying in Washington with Trump administration luminaries.
Incredibly, nearly all of the MAGA movement’s embrace of the brothers has come after they were first accused of sex trafficking in 2022. That seemed pretty crazy for a bunch of people who claim their biggest issue is child sex trafficking. But it seemed the friendly feelings for the Tates might have reached their limits last week after they were arrested to be extradited to the United Kingdom, where they face new charges related to allegedly choking women unconscious and raping them.
And yet, despite the seriousness of the crimes, there is still a growing movement on the right urging the Trump administration to intervene and prevent the extradition.
Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-Ariz.) has become one of the Tates’ most prominent defenders in the aftermath of the extradition, claiming in a tweet that they’re victims of politicized “lawfare” in both the U.K. and Romania. He doesn’t specify why he thinks the brothers would be targets of lawfare—what political reasons these countries would have for taking down the Tates. Nevertheless, Hamadeh said the Trump administration should refuse to extradite the brothers, who are dual American and British citizens.
“There should be no extradition of American citizens when the charges are unclear and political,” Hamadeh wrote.
Right-wing influencers and media figures are also supporting the Tates. White nationalist podcaster Nick Fuentes said their extradition would be a “national humiliation.” Far-right influencers the “Hodge Twins” compared the Tates to pro-Trump comedian Russell Brand, himself facing rape charges in the U.K., ostensibly to imply both were being unfairly targeted. And hustle-bro podcaster Patrick Bet-David went so far as to say the Tates were an inspiration to fatherless children.
“I think they’re doing more good for society than bad, if you ask me,” he saidon his podcast following the extradition, though he admitted that the Tates were “very complicated human beings.”
The Bulwark