The War for Young Men's Minds
Andrew Tate sits poolside. Shirtless. Tattooed. “This is a political witch hunt. And what they are doing to me is the same thing they tried to do to Trump, and it is the same thing they’re going to do to every single one of you. Do not forget they tried to put a bullet in Trump’s head. And now they want me gone.”
The caption reads: “They will kill everyone.” The end of the video fades to black, and the words, “You will never know light again” linger on the screen.
While the Tate brothers, Andrew and Tristan, don’t position themselves as political influencers, their influence on politics is undeniable. They have lighted upon a lucrative grift: addressing the fundamental insecurities of young men when it comes to women, money, community, and knowing who to blame for your problems. For the Democrats, the ignition of the “manosphere” became a flame they were powerless to combat.
This is, in fact, the Democrats’ dystopian nightmare, one in which the party that has prided itself on equity and inclusion has now ceded considerable territory to men like the Tates. Andrew and Tristan, British and American citizens, came from humble beginnings and made a name for themselves in kickboxing. Now, they are being prosecuted for human trafficking, rape, and assault in Romania and the UK.
The Tates promise young men a lifestyle of flashy cars, private jets, unlimited girls, and an alpha energy if they sign up for the $49.99 a month membership site. Andrew Tate was the third most Googled person in the world in 2023, and that speaks volumes about the popularity of a culture that glorifies misogyny and toxic masculinity. One that says that if women are sexually assaulted, it’s their fault.
So toxic is this type of masculinity that Andrew has been banned by Meta and YouTube. His Twitter account was restored in 2023, and the more than ten million followers he’s amassed there reply to his recent video with comments like, “War they want. War it is. Forged in battle for battle,” and, “You are the tip of the spear, Andrew… your integrity is without question, and we stand with you… fearless and unfazed.”
Tate’s bio says he has “unmatched perspicacity,” and exhorts people to “escape slavery” by buying his Fireblood supplements for $59.00.
Trump won young men by double digits in the 2024 election — 57% to 42% among men ages 18–29. Even traditionally solid Democratic voting blocs moved to the right — the Democrats lost 10 points with young Black men and 16 points with Latino men, and the manosphere is one factor. The Democrats have launched an expensive plan to win them back.
The sociology of young men in America is not a sunny one. Women are outpacing men in college attendance and graduation. Girls are doing better in elementary and high school, earning better grades and having fewer disciplinary problems. Boys and young men are more than three times as likely to die by suicide. One in seven men say they feel lonely all the time, although the much-heralded “male loneliness epidemic” may not be real, as women feel lonely at similar rates.
Regardless of who is lonelier, men or women, they tend to deal with the associated feelings differently. For young men, social and romantic isolation too often turns to grievance, and grievance to rage. Internet personalities have tapped into this anger and frustration and exploited it, enriching themselves while telling young men that all of their problems are the fault of someone else.
Watch my videos, they say, and learn how to be an alpha male. Buy my course, they entice, and get rich on crypto. Take my supplements, and show women you know how to dominate them.
In the words of Andrew Tate, “The matrix may have imprisoned me, but I am free inside The Real World.” The Real World is Tate’s rebrand of his Hustler’s University membership, and the website pushes emotional messaging. You’re running out of time; AI is coming for your job; you, cretin, have chosen not to let the robots make money for you while you sleep. Cue exploding fighter jet. (No, really. A fighter jet crashes into a ball of flame.)
To his followers, Tate is a prophet. When he predicted his own arrest, it wasn’t proof that he was a sex trafficker, it was evidence of his credibility.
But the manosphere doesn’t just exist on X, nor is it confined to the Tate brothers. It's on message boards and podcasts, and many analysts engaged in an electoral postmortem believe that right wing manosphere podcasts helped clinch Trump’s victory: these shows are hugely popular, with engaged audiences that number in the tens of millions. Each.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump saw an opening: he made a number of well-timed appearances, sitting down with Joe Rogan, Logan Paul, and others. In these interviews, Trump discussed sports, criticized feminism, talked about being tough, and mused about what it means to be a man.
Other Republicans and Democrats caught on to the game too late, and I experienced this firsthand.