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Why Andrew Tate Is a MAGA Superstar

Manosphere celebrities—including alleged sexual predators like Tate—are a symptom of a politically resurgent misogyny.

Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, talk to the media outside their residence on March 23, 2025, in Bucharest, Romania.

On Saturday, federal marshals in Miami arrested Andrew and Tristan Tate—two brothers who run a social-media empire in which they purport to be the voice of male empowerment—on charges of rape and sex trafficking. The arrest was made after an extradition request by British authorities (the Tates are dual UK-US nationals). The brothers had previously been arrested on rape and trafficking charges in Romania and the United Kingdom. As The New York Times reports, the new charges against the brothers are grave, as are the accusations in an ongoing criminal case against them 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 more charges relating to sexual images of children and “extreme pornography.” Tristan Tate, 38, faces two new charges of rape; one count of sexual assault; and three counts of sex trafficking…. In Romania, where the Tates previously lived, prosecutors have been investigating allegations that they coerced dozens of women, including a 17-year-old girl, into pornography. They have also investigated Andrew Tate over allegations that he raped one of the women and had sex with a 15-year-old.

The new charges against Andrew Tate, 39, include seven counts of rape; three counts of sex trafficking; three counts of assault; and 19 more charges relating to sexual images of children and “extreme pornography.”

Tristan Tate, 38, faces two new charges of rape; one count of sexual assault; and three counts of sex trafficking….

In Romania, where the Tates previously lived, prosecutors have been investigating allegations that they coerced dozens of women, including a 17-year-old girl, into pornography. They have also investigated Andrew Tate over allegations that he raped one of the women and had sex with a 15-year-old.

In June, The New Yorker published an extensive report by Heidi Blake that made clear, in harrowing detail, the despicable nature of these alleged crimes. Multiple women told Blake that they had been manipulated, sexually tortured, and raped by the Tate brothers. (The Tates have denied any wrongdoing.) These acts, Blake wrote, were motivated by a bluntly misogynist ideology often expressed by the brothers and also served an economic purpose.

The Tates ran a webcam-pornography empire where many of the women they employed had been groomed into the job. The business model relied on paying these employees as little as possible. The verbal and sexual abuse allegedly inflicted upon them seems to have served as a way of keeping wages low.

In an online network called The War Room, Andrew Tate offers lessons on pimping, or as he once put it, recruiting women into “sexual slavery.” On one occasion, Tate instructed his students, “You have to fuck them, and they have to love you. It’s essential to........

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