It’s not a conspiracy - Andrew Tate is Gen Z’s Donald Trump with his cult of personality

“Top g will win” wrote one supporter, while another made reference to “The Matrix,” this illuminati style group Tate alluded to in the past akin to those Trumplicans who fervently believe in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory. “Matrix at it again! He predicted this. He didn’t do it” remarked on commenter - Andrew Tate is a divisive figure, and in other news, the sky is blue.

But the concern isn’t merely just what Andrew Tate is selling to his followers, many of which are young, virile gentlemen who cite the influencer as an inspiration. And in part, it’s hard not to attest that his views on healthy eating and lifestyle are positive messages you would like to see on TikTok and social media. However, there is a group of people, a growing number of people might I add, who like nothing more than the misogynistic side of Andrew Tate’s comments.

Those viewpoints stem from his advice on how to “hook up” with a girl rather than pursue a deep, meaningful, monogamous relationship; that you should play the field in order to enhance your odds to get with a woman, that appearance is key to picking up girls (hence his advice on healthy eating and working out) and has advocated for men to assert dominance and display their power in interactions with women, often through aggressive or controlling behaviour.

It’s almost as though those aspirational comments are more in line with how to pick up numerous girls than living a healthy lifestyle…

Tate’s overarching influence can be felt on TikTok since his rise to a cult-like, demagogue status, but for the most part it is the worst aspects of his influence that are now coming to the forefront. He’ has signal boosted influencers like current prankster du jour Mizzy, who of course has come under fire for his “harmless” acts such as walking into random people’s houses and had an influencer on Speedy - the 16 year old who had crafted a following with crass comments made towards women.

I get it - when I was 16, gross out humour and outrageous stunts were all the rage through the advent of Jackass and American Pie. At a certain point in life, a boy goes through changes involving hormones and testosterone and you end up engaging in activity that can be considered problematic. But you grow up - the concern though is, will those who are fans of Tate grow up, or are they happy to live in a state of perpetual arrested development?

Especially given TikTok’s modus operandi for viral content seems to have helped spur on copycat after copycat of people like Mizzy, Speedy and Tate. All of which seeing how far they can push the envelope, as if Logan Paul’s distasteful video in Japan’s “Suicide Forest” is baby formula now compared to other things that have ended up on the social media outlet.

But how, as a parent, can you watch some of the comments that Andrew Tate comes out with regarding how to treat prospective life interests and go “that’s a healthy role model to have.” He is, effectively, the pick-up artists that have been banned from the United Kingdom before, only thanks to the advent of technology, he’s giving his toxic masculine TED style talks from his online parapet, rather than asking you to buy a ticket to a function room somewhere that won’t get picketed by baying detractors.

It echoes the protests many colleges in the United States held when another rabble rouser, Milo Yiannopolous, undertook talking tours across the country. Except, there is nowhere for those against Tate’s teaching to picket, except for yelling into the echo chamber the influencer has fostered for himself.

Could parents do more? Sure - if you’re going to give a mobile phone to a ten year old who has a rudimentary knowledge of how to download social media apps, perhaps you should be more vigilant in your parenting. But that’s easier said than done - I’m from an age where the only means of communication with one another was either a telephone, talking in person or, years later, joining a message board or chatting on MSN Messenger. Kind of hard to keep tabs on what your kid is watching or engaging in when there are a multitude of communicative apps out there that can be accessed. Where do you start?

But if TikTok aren’t concerned about the cult of personality built around Andrew Tate, then ultimately it is a parents responsibility; to maybe curtail what access a child has to social media or, god forbid, a sit down, frank conversation why Tate’s teachings are problematic. Maybe having that birds and bees conversation sooner rather than later, or perhaps a discussion from experience about sex, relationships and monogamy. Or polyamory if all the participants are willing and consenting to an open relationship.

Andrew Tate and Donald Trump exude the same "energy."

I headlined this article with the very blunt opinion that Andrew Tate is to Gen Z what Donald Trump is to “boomers” and jingoistic supporters in the United States and I stand by the comparison. 

They both have fostered this demagogue-like status within their fanbase, where both individuals despite being proved otherwise are infallible in the eyes of their supporters. They both espouse some incredibly antiquated, distinguishing takes on society and women (never forget “locker room” talk), and they are both vehement that articles and “hot takes” about them are fake news and that there is a wider conspiracy out to get them - the “woke left” in Trump’s case, “The Matrix” in Tate’s case.

But hard proof is hard proof, and the truth is the truth. There is no “this is my truth,” only fact, and yet akin to Trump and his team, Tate has managed to create a narrative that “his truth” and perspective is that - fact. Clearly, in the case of the charges he’s facing in Romania, they are not. 

I’m lucky; I’m a male writer commissioned to pen a piece on my perspective on Andrew Tate’s toxic influence among a sea of faux teenage machismo. I can handle being called a “cuck” or a myriad of homophobic slurs. If this was a female writer however, be honest with yourselves - the vitriol would be infinitely more aggressive, lewd and outright misogynistic. 

Rather than the writing and an objective take on their piece, the insults are more going to be how she looks rather than her abilities - because, as Andrew Tate preaches amongst those health tips, a woman ultimately is your possession. You just need to assert that dominance, both physically and monetarily, to ensure she knows what she is missing out on. 

That vitriol is for clout also, let’s not lie to ourselves - what the right once considered “virtue signalling” has now been subjected into clout chasing, and it would appear in terms of TikTok that the more vitriolic and degrading the insult, the more points scored among that community. If I’m wrong, then I’m wrong - but hey, that’s “my truth” and in the spirit of Andrew Tate and his fans, my truth feels more like fact.