President Donald Trump promised to stop the flow of criminals through our borders, and, to be fair, illegal border crossings are down significantly since he took over. But one credibly accused sex criminal was just welcomed back into the United States — and possibly with the Trump administration’s blessing and support.
Alt-right influencer, pornographer, antisemite, and self-described “proud misogynist” Andrew Tate is back in America after being freed from travel restrictions in Romania, where he still faces rape and sex trafficking charges. Tate denies the charges and says the Romanian criminal justice system is corrupt, but he also previously bragged that he specifically chose to move to Romania because he wanted “access to corruption.” He is also on camera bragging about some of the very things he is accused of doing, such as using the “loverboy” method to coerce women into doing sex work for him.
According to reporting from the BBC, Tate’s release may have happened due to the Trump administration’s influence, with “high-level White House officials” taking interest in his case and contacting Romanian officials. Now, the president says he “doesn’t know anything about it.” But Trump’s lawyer, Alina Habba, just recently described herself as a “big fan” of the self-described pimp and pornographer, and Tate has ties to many other important figures in the president’s orbit. He himself seems to think his freedom and Trump’s rise to power are related, tweeting just weeks ago, “The Tates will be free, Trump is the president.”
If the Trump administration really did fight to secure Tate’s release and help him escape accountability in Romania, then that would be an absolute disgrace and a betrayal of everything American conservatives are supposed to stand for, from family values to the rule of law.
Forget the serious and credible, yet admittedly unproven, criminal allegations against Tate for a moment. Undisputed, self-admitted facts about the man make clear who he is and why he is not worth spending an ounce of political capital to protect.
Tate has bragged about building a fortune for himself through a pornographic empire, describing himself as a “pimp” and admitting to hitting women as part of “pimping 101.”
As a BBC expose revealed, Tate has sent women texts confessing, “I loved raping you” and admitting to choking them forcefully.
He posted to his own TikTok account a message that if a woman accuses a man of infidelity, the appropriate response is “bang out the machete, boom in her face, you grip her up by the neck, ‘Shut up, b****’ … you go f*** her. That’s how it goes, slap, slap, grab, choke, ‘shut up b****,’ sex.”
Nobody with a moral compass, regardless of his or her political sympathies, should want a man such as Andrew Tate to escape legal accountability or be welcomed back to the U.S. to potentially harm more women. Yet some on the Right, such as YouTube star Candance Owens, are cheering for Tate’s release back into the country and attacking those unhappy about it. In doing so, Owens made the false claim that the Romanian criminal cases against Tate had been “thrown out” due to lack of evidence. They are, in fact, ongoing, with ample evidence including Tate admitting on camera to many of the things he is accused of doing.
Thankfully, many on the Right have condemned Tate.
Most notably, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis plainly stated that Tate is “not welcome” in Florida. Similarly, Daily Wire host Ben Shapiro tweeted, “America does not need more self-proclaimed pimps and terror supporters with outstanding criminal allegations of sex trafficking and a history of pornographic distribution.” Meanwhile, a parody headline from the right-wing Babylon Bee read, “Conservatism Saved As Muslim Sex Trafficker Brought Back To U.S.”
TRUMP SHOULD STAY AWAY FROM ANDREW TATE
This is a basic moral test for not just the Trump administration but the entire American Right. If they actually stand for any of the values they say they care about, they must not defend such an obviously immoral and evil man such as Tate, let alone help him escape legal accountability for his alleged criminal acts. He should be extradited to the United Kingdom, where he faces outstanding arrest warrants for acts of sexual aggression, and forced to return to Romania when criminal proceedings against him resume.
Anything less than this would represent a profound moral failing and complete betrayal of basic conservative values.
Brad Polumbo is an independent journalist and host of the Brad vs Everyone podcast.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
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