Published March 11, 2025
In early 2016, Ross Douthat, the lone conservative columnist at the New York Times, tweeted, “If you dislike the religious right, wait till you meet the post-religious right.” Almost a decade later, he continues to be vindicated, as demonstrated by his colleague Jessica Grose, who fears for her daughters’ future as some on the right embrace Andrew Tate, an online personality and alleged sex trafficker. Officials in the Trump administration reportedly helped get Tate and his brother out of Romania, where they face serious criminal charges.
Grose views Tate as emblematic of a misogynistic cultural shift, and worries that her daughters “will not be treated as fully human by the men and boys in their lives. And that to get along, more and more women and girls will accept that treatment. I am most upset by the idea of my daughters dating boys who belittle them in ways big and small and, in the worst case scenario, abuse them.” She is correct that Tate is loathsome, and the shots she takes at his enablers on the right are justified. And though she may exaggerate it, a foul misogynist vibe has taken root in parts of the right, especially among alienated and bitter men who spend too much time online and not enough in church.
Click here to continue reading.
Nathanael Blake, Ph.D. is a Fellow in the Life and Family Initiative at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His research interests include American political theory, Christian political thought, and the intersection of natural law and philosophical hermeneutics. His published scholarship has included work on Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Alasdair MacIntyre, Russell Kirk and J.R.R. Tolkien.
