Donald Trump has told many stories and denied many others about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. But those questions focus on Epstein’s actions and crimes, which Trump says he condemns and had no part in. The White House has gone to great lengths—bending the truth and more—to shield Trump from what the Epstein files might reveal about him. However, a bigger question is what Trump thinks of Epstein’s values. Does he reject them, or does he support and embrace them? Looking at his administration’s connections to Andrew Tate might offer some clues.
According to Heidi Blake’s detailed investigation of Tate in the New Yorker earlier this month, the Trump administration stepped in last year to help Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan avoid the consequences of their criminal charges in Romania. Blake also reports that the circles around Tate and Trump have crossed paths at Mar-a-Lago.
She’s not the only one looking into these links. A December New York Times report by Megan Twohey and Isabella Kwai cites a text message from Tate, reviewed by the outlet, from January 2025: “I had word from The Trump admin that theyre on top of things. Ive been told ill be free soon but Trump needs to see me in Miami.” Two of Trump’s sons, Don Jr. and Barron, have reportedly become friends with Andrew, though the White House told the Times it wasn’t involved in the Tates’ legal issues. The Tates’ lawyer called the outlet’s findings about Andrew and Barron “fake news.”
It’s pointless to argue over who’s worse, Epstein or Tate. Their monstrous misogyny reflects their different eras. Epstein seemed stuck in the 1980s, obsessed with climbing into elite circles and recruiting and abusing young women from their teens to early adulthood. Tate, on the other hand, rose through the 21st-century machinery of the manosphere, which is largely tied to the internet and the powerful men who run it. But both seem to define masculinity by dehumanizing women and girls. While Tate has called himself a misogynist before, he told Blake that his reputation as one was “completely unfair.”
A former mixed-martial arts fighter, Tate became, in his own words, a pimp. He recruited women by getting into relationships with them, then allegedly forced and manipulated them into webcam sex work and otherwise controlled them. Blake reports that in 2014, when he realized his kickboxing career had limited financial potential, he moved on: “Webcam porn, now a multibillion-dollar industry, was then a new phenomenon, and Tate considered himself a pioneer,” she writes. “Porn” might not be the right word—a webcam worker performs live for remote customers, and the pressure to meet their demands is constant.
Blake describes how Tate exploited his first recruit, a 17-year-old, and “persuaded her to get a tattoo of a cobra down one side of her body and another reading ‘Tate Property’ above her crotch … Andrew said that more than thirty women had his name tattooed on their skin.”
The Tate brothers left the UK “after three British women accused Andrew of rape and strangulation,” Blake continues, and moved to Romania. There, they operated without consequences for almost a decade, building a webcam empire with women and girls they recruited. According to messages from Andrew reviewed by the Times, some of them became essentially trapped, unable to leave, and were punished or threatened if they managed to escape. At one point, 75 women were working for them.
But by the time the Tate brothers were arrested in Romania, Andrew’s main income wasn’t from women performing sex acts on webcams. It came from videos of himself, aimed at a huge audience of boys and young men he was teaching about misogyny, exploitation, and control.Cartoonish versions of masculinity. Their US lawyers said the two “have maintained their innocence, arguing the accusations against them are defamatory and false.”
His main platform was Rumble, where Peter Thiel and JD Vance were new investors. According to a confidential contract reviewed by Blake, Rumble paid him generously as he posted his lessons in abuse. (Rumble condemned human trafficking and sexual abuse, stating that the allegations against him are not related to content on its platform.) BuzzFeed reported that from 2018 to 2022, he offered a course on his website called “Pimpin’ Hoes Degree.” Shortly after Trump returned to the White House, “under pressure from the U.S., Romania lifted the Tates’ travel ban,” the New Yorker reported.
While Epstein directly abused victims, the Tates had a bigger impact, according to their accusers, because they taught countless other men how to abuse, exploit, and dehumanize women. The Epstein affair isn’t over. In an excerpt from a forthcoming book, the New York Times reports on situation-room meetings last July, reportedly led by Vance, to try to cover up statements about Trump in the Epstein files. It includes this line: “The vice president said he thought the president would be OK with releasing the nipple-related documents, arguing that Trump had been accused of worse.”
While Epstein directly abused victims, the Tates’ main influence, their accusers say, was teaching many other men to abuse, exploit, and dehumanize women. But, Blake reports, they also continued to brutalize women. Allegations of rape and strangulation appear throughout Blake’s account, including charges last year by an American woman that Andrew Tate beat and choked her, which he denies. However, “he has repeatedly advocated throttling women during sex as a way to assert masculine power,” the New Yorker report states.
There are many ways Trump and his associates have shown us that human rights and human life mean nothing to them. Examples include the 2024 campaign lies about Haitian immigrants in Ohio, the brutalities of masked ICE agents across the US, the dismantling of USAID, the murder of civilians in small boats in the Caribbean, and the bombing of a girls’ school in Iran, to name just a few dramatic cases. But who they are is revealed not only by who they choose to harm, but also by who the Trump family has sought to ally with and protect.
Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. Her newest book is The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change.
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on the topic of Rebecca Solnits analysis of Donald Trumps connection to the Tate brothers
BeginnerLevel Questions
Q Who are the Tate brothers and why are they in the news
A Andrew and Tristan Tate are controversial online influencers known for promoting a hypermasculine misogynistic worldview They are currently facing serious legal charges in Romania and the UK including human trafficking and forming an organized crime group
Q What is Donald Trumps direct personal connection to the Tate brothers
A There is no evidence of a close personal friendship or business partnership The connection is ideological and cultural Trump has not publicly endorsed them as individuals but his political movement shares many of the same beliefs about male dominance grievance and power
Q Did Trump ever meet or speak with the Tate brothers
A There are no confirmed public reports of a private meeting However Andrew Tate has publicly praised Trump called himself a Trump supporter and mimicked Trumps rhetoric The connection is about shared ideas not a personal relationship
Q Why would Rebecca Solnit write about this connection
A Solnit is a feminist writer who analyzes power dynamics She sees the Tates and Trump as part of the same backlash against womens rights and social progress She argues they are symptoms of a broader cultural war not just individuals with a personal link
Q Is this connection about politics or just about toxic masculinity
A Its about both Solnit argues that the connection is political because Trumps platform and the Tates content both promote a vision of society where men reclaim dominance often through aggression wealth and control over women
AdvancedLevel Questions
Q How does Solnit argue that the Tate brothers are a logical extension of Trumpism rather than a separate phenomenon
A Solnit argues that Trump normalized a specific kind of grievancebased masculinityone that frames womens equality racial justice and LGBTQ rights as an attack on men The Tates simply took this worldview and turned it into a commercial online empire offering men a playbook to reclaim perceived lost power
Q What specific rhetorical tactics do Trump and the Tate brothers share according to Solnit
