{"id":111160,"date":"2026-06-12T14:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/111160\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T14:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T14:17:08","slug":"trump-and-the-tates-show-the-meaning-of-monster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/111160\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump and the Tates show the meaning of \u2018monster\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Kai Trump, President Donald Trump, Knicks owner James Dolan and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stand during the National Anthem at Madison Square Garden on Monday.SAUL LOEB\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Monsters. This was the word (among others, unprintable) that came to mind repeatedly while reading a deep dive into Andrew and Tristan Tate published by The New Yorker<\/a> this week. Anyone who has the misfortune of being even slightly attuned to the manosphere knows the Tates are bad news \u2013 accused of human trafficking, sexual assault and other moral crimes, not necessarily punishable by law. But this nine-month-long investigation bolsters the allegations with tangible details. <\/p>\n

Each brother had a personal \u201charem,\u201d writes Heidi Blake. Andrew Tate called the women his wives, ordering them to address him as \u201cking.\u201d He commissioned an artwork depicting him on a throne, holding a cane he called his \u201cpimp stick,\u201d with three women leaning over him dressed in thongs and stilettos. <\/p>\n

Ms. Blake read through thousands of text messages. Among her findings: Andrew Tate had recorded a video about \u201conly seeing a girl part time, but loving her\u201d and sent it to nine women, making each think it was about her. The contact names in his phone for these women included \u201cJackass,\u201d \u201cUseless\u201d and \u201cCrazy Bitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love raping you,\u201d was another text message one woman received. \u201cMonsters are monsters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opinion: America the predator: Trump wants to show the world he can take what he wants<\/a><\/p>\n

When someone says women are lazy, shouldn\u2019t vote, that Ted Bundy ruined the \u201cI don\u2019t need to rape women because I\u2019m handsome\u201d excuse for everyone, do they really believe it? Do they actually believe that women have something wrong with their brains? That they shouldn\u2019t work and should be forced to procreate? Or is it an act, a way to provoke, get attention, and make money in the misogyny-fuelled manosphere economy?<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, on the internet, you use hyperbole, and you exaggerate sometimes for comedic effect,\u201d Andrew Tate told Ms. Blake.<\/p>\n

The piece, which also outlines the accusations of a high-profile Canadian accuser, Lauren Southern, eventually gets around to the question of Donald Trump\u2019s involvement securing the Tates\u2019 freedom from jail.<\/p>\n

The same day the New Yorker story was posted, the New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs played Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Mr. Trump travelled to Madison Square Garden for the event. He was roundly booed when shown on screen during the national anthem. Afterward, on the tarmac before boarding his plane for Washington, he was asked by the media what he thought of the reception he received at the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were great,\u201d he said. This was a deadpan answer; Mr. Trump did not seem to be employing sarcasm or being playful. \u201cI mean, I thought it was amazing, actually. You mean when they had the camera on me? I thought it was very good, yeah. It was certainly amazing. It was, I think, mostly cheers. It was loud and it was very enthusiastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowd boos Donald Trump during the anthem before Game 3 of NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

It was loud, all right. And enthusiastic. But mostly cheers?<\/p>\n

Was he out-and-out lying? I mean, how could he say that? The response was described, in one report<\/a>, as a \u201cchorus of deafening boos\u201d (which is easy to confirm by watching any posted video). The jeering happened long before the President took his little nap (I mean, had a long blink) in his bulletproof box. He must have heard it.<\/p>\n

Does he actually believe the cheers outweighed the boos? Does he believe his own baloney? Or is it the people around him, telling him what to think about himself? Did someone call during that car ride to JFK and reassure him: Donny, they loved you. They were cheering like crazy. You\u2019re the king.<\/p>\n

What is it about these guys \u2013 the Tates, the Trumps (I\u2019ll throw Don, Jr. in there too)? Do they believe their own provocative bull, their lies? Is there any self-awareness? Does Mr. Trump know how hated he is? Do the Tates know how awful they are? <\/p>\n

Andrew Tate\u2019s people claim he didn\u2019t really mean what he has said online about sexually exploiting women, as The New Yorker reported. He had simply been playing a character \u201cfor entertainment.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to know which is more monstrous. To actually think women deserve to be dominated by men. Or to pretend to think it and use it as a way to make money or gain power.<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s who does know: The people around them. The suck-ups and sycophants. Around the Tates \u2013 their security, business and legal advisers; the woman hired to handle their PR after their arrest in Romania. And in Washington, the President\u2019s people \u2013 other elected Republicans who pretend their leader knows what he\u2019s doing, his press secretaries who berate the media at his behest. Outsiders too, like the soccer organization that awarded him a peace prize. They know \u2013 and they stick around and cheerlead anyway. They aid and abet. They amplify, normalize. It\u2019s a game for them \u2013 or a job, well-paid, while real people suffer. Monsters. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Kai Trump, President Donald Trump, Knicks owner James Dolan and Interior Secretary Doug…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[7397,7644,111,56944,56943,55,74],"class_list":["post-111160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-kai-trump","tag-column","tag-dei","tag-kai-trump","tag-lederman","tag-marsha-lederman","tag-opinion","tag-trump"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116737569128843025","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}