Andrew And Tristan Tate’s Return To The U.S. Sparks Criminal Investigation And Divides Conservatives

Conservatives are divided on the Tates. Donald Trump denied knowledge of their return, though speculation persists that his administration put pressure on Romania to lift the Tates’ travel ban. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis took a bolder, hardline stance, condemning the brothers and declaring them unwelcome in the state of Florida. Some on X theorized that Trump is not only responsible for Romania lifting the Tates' travel ban, but potentially ruining the chance of them facing the Romanian legal system, claiming "they will likely never step foot in Romania ever again." However, Andrew and Tristan Tate have a scheduled Romanian court appearance on March 24.

Upon arriving at the Fort Lauderdale International Airport, Andrew Tate spoke to reporters to declare he and his brothers' innocence. "There are a lot of things that go around about us on the internet. We've yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives, ever. We have no criminal record anywhere on the planet, ever." As for the reason they’ve returned to the U.S. Andrew claimed their prosecutor decided to let them go and return to the States because they have no active indictment in court.

Days after their return to the US, Florida's Attorney General James Uthmeier announced the launch of a criminal investigation into Andrew and Tristan Tate and "based on a thorough review of the evidence" has directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas. 

Right wing commentators on X expressed their disgust with the Tate brothers and accused Trump of hypocrisy for his rhetoric of being tough on crime and his intention to deport "rapists and sex traffickers" whilst the Tates see the United States as an apparent safe haven. The Tates’ supporters cite the fact that they haven’t been tried or convicted of any crime as defense for why they’re entitled to the presumption of innocence, which is fair enough. However, that doesn’t mean I have to suspend my judgment of their character. I’m not sure I’m thrilled about the idea that the new standard for being a modern 'conservative' hero is simply avoiding conviction for rape or human trafficking.

Note, even a conviction in Romania, Andrew Tate says, would be “highly questionable” due to the country’s corruption—a feature of the country he previously found attractive, in boasting about the accessibility of corruption as a way to bribe Romanian officials. "I like living in countries where corruption is accessible to everybody. I find it offensive that a police officer in England will stop me for speeding and refuse a bribe, whereas in Romania, if I’m caught speeding, I can just pay a bribe on the spot."

If you’re keeping track, Tate conducted business in and lived in Romania due to its corruption, but if they end up convicting him of a crime, it’s baseless because of said corruption. I wonder if Tate defenders’ backs hurt from the relentless mental gymnastics they have to do on a daily basis to defend them. 

Various conservative commentators and organizations have come under scrutiny for running cover for the Tates, who self-identify as misogynists and who regularly play what can only be described as a game of verbal chicken. It’s almost like they’re daring prosecutors to lock them up (as Andrew Tate often literally does, since this would make him a political martyr). 

Candace Owens and Patrick Bet David welcomed Andrew Tate on their show following his arrival back to the U.S., where they pretended he’s a misunderstood angel who’s never done anything wrong in his life. Owens even tried to make the case that people suddenly turned on Tate overnight just because he voiced support for Palestine—a truly ludicrous and insulting suggestion. The Tampa Bay Young Republicans welcomed the Tates to formally speak to their group, using the cover "free speech absolutism." This inspired ire from conservatives, who found it hypocritical to glorify degenerate pornographers who espouse ideals antithesis to conservative values. 

Thankfully some conservatives like Megyn Kelly are still sentient and recognize him for the con artist he is. On her show, she played a montage of Tate clips where he fantasizes about beating women, boasts about making them cry during sex, and describes violent scenarios in disturbing detail. "I don't even have to f*** you. Forget the sex part. That's a distraction. My dick can stay in my pants, I'll just start beating the s*** out of you," Andrew says in the video. Or how about how he learned in "pimpin’ school" that when a woman accuses you of cheating, that's when you bust out the machete? "Bang out the machete, boom in her face, then grip her up by the neck, “shut up bitch,” her panties get wet—machete's on the floor, her panties are all wet. You got to f*** her. That's how it goes: slap, slap, grab, choke, "shut up bitch," sex. These are the basic moves of pimpin.”

This is all par for the course for Andrew Tate. He says something provocatively disgusting and objectionable to any reasonable person, waits for someone to say “um I actually think beating women with a machete because she accused you of cheating is bad, mmkay” and then defers to the “muh freeze peach” and “muh innocent until proven guilty” card. This is where he claims it’s all taken out of context; it’s a bit; you wouldn’t have a high enough IQ to understand the appeal of sadism. It’s all so tiresome, predictable and boring. 

This guy sucks, and it’s incredibly uncontroversial to say so. Just because there have been excesses of the Me Too movement and liberal demonization of masculinity doesn’t mean that we need to make an idol out of the Final Boss of toxic masculinity who quite literally runs around bragging about manipulating young women into becoming cam girls by making them fall in love with them and then pimping them out—something that sounds awfully similar to the literal human trafficking tactic called the “lover boy” method. These are all his own admissions! “The Matrix” need not attack him, Tate’s own mouth is doing a perfectly satisfactory job on its own. 

Don’t take it from me; take it from him. Tate not only bragged about making his wealth this way, but sold a PHD (Pimpin’ Hoes Degree) course teaching other men how to do the same, teaching them “how I met girls, how I got girls to like me, how I got girls to fall in love with me to work on webcam for me." "My MO was [to] find girls and make them love me and make them work for me, and that's how I got rich." Multiple videos demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that he was manipulating young women by misleading them and using various tactics on girls who would otherwise say no to camming.

While it’s true the Tates have yet to be convicted of any crimes and have the right to legal presumed innocence, the claim that there’s no basis for Ron De Santis to say they’re unwelcome in the state of Florida because they’re American citizens or that he “failed a competency test” that’s damning enough to demand a resignation is ludicrous. Tate intentionally creates these traps by saying inflammatory things that walk the line of self-incrimination, then when someone condemns him as an immoral person, he uses that as evidence of his unjust persecution. Meanwhile, he contradicts himself in every other sentence. 

He inconsistently criticizes DeSantis, first outraged at being deemed unwelcome, then claims on Candace Owens show that had DeSantis privately called him and requested he flee the state because he’s not welcome there, he would. He also bizarrely challenged DeSantis to arrest him (something he does quite frequently for someone constantly complaining about the legal system targeting him), boasting, “You think I don’t wipe my phone every night?”—an argument that raises more suspicion than it clears.

The Tates’ assertion that the U.S. has no authority to investigate them is legally baseless. The U.S. has jurisdiction if their alleged crimes involve American citizens (which they do, including a Florida-based accuser), if they committed crimes on U.S. soil, or if they used American financial systems to fund illicit activities.

Their defenders first claimed they were unfairly accused, then that even a Romanian conviction would be suspect, and now that Florida has no right to investigate, despite the attorney general’s “thorough review of the evidence.” The excuses are running out.