Connections Figures like Trump, Vance and Tate, as well as the fiercely toxic incel community, appear to be at least partly strategic.
As a Trump campaign official outlined the strategy, “isolated MAGA voters who have proven difficult to engage,” as The Atlantic puts it, are one of the campaign’s main messaging targets.
So a pro-Trump PAC launched a $20 million campaign to reach out to young voters. Full Send Podcast The event is organized by the Nerk Boys, a four-man group that enjoys huge support among conservative young men.
The Nerk Boys have previously hosted Tate and another far-right influencer, Nico Ken de Balinzagee, known as Sneeko. De Balinzagee has dreamed of a time when it would be acceptable to hit women, like men did 50 years ago. In one video uploaded to TikTok, he is caught on camera hitting a woman and responding, “She’s been messing around all night.”
On their podcast, the Nelk Boys have repeatedly defended the misogynistic rhetoric advocated by both Tate and de Balinzagee.
Trump has been interviewed by the Nerk Boys on several occasions, describing their work as “important” and was recently photographed with Sneeko at an MMA event.
Trump was also recently interviewed by Tate’s associate, Adin Ross, a streamer who is infamous for inadvertently tipped off authorities about Trump’s plans to flee Romania. Ross was also banned from Twitch for displaying “unmoderated hateful behavior” in chat and hosting white supremacist Nick Fuentes. During the interview, Ross gifted Trump a heavily wrapped Tesla Cybertruck and a Rolex, gifts that some experts say may have violated campaign finance rules.
Trump’s misogynistic worldview permeates other areas of conservative politics.
Even before Kamala Harris was officially nominated to replace President Joe Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, the right was demonizing her as a “DEI hire,” a term Tate has used to criticize women in the past.
Prominent right-wing media figures have similarly made a number of misogynistic remarks in recent months. In April, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk accused birth control pills of creating “very angry, mean young women” and falsely claimed the drug “messes up women’s brains.” Regular Fox Business contributor Alec Race appeared on the network last month and said he felt comfortable calling Harris “the original Hawk-to-a-Girl, that’s how she got to where she is,” adding that she’s the “DEI vice president.” And last month, Fox News primetime host Jesse Watters claimed that “when men vote for women, they actually transition into women.”
The speaker list at last month’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee included Dana White, who was caught on camera slapping his wife, and Hulk Hogan, who has been accused of physically abusing his wife. (Hogan filed a defamation lawsuit over the allegations, but asked the court to dismiss them five months later.) Also on the list were prominent conservative figures such as David Sachs and Mark Robinson, who have tried to blame the victims of sexual assault. Speakers also included Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz, who is under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly taking part in a human trafficking scheme involving 17-year-old girls but has not been charged.
“Women like me who know President Trump personally and who work for him know that he is encouraging and generous to the women around him,” Trump spokesman Leavitt said. “Most importantly, President Trump’s policies as president have uplifted the spirits of women across this country by lowering the cost of living and making our communities safer.”
