What A Day - The Terrible Tates

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

Andrew and Tristan Tate are facing extradition to the United Kingdom after their arrest in Miami last weekend. The brothers are facing 59 counts between them in the UK, including rape, sex trafficking, and more. And now, President Trump’s inner circle — including the White House — is backing away from the Tates. For more, we spoke to Madeline Peltz. She’s an independent journalist covering the right-wing media and author of the Substack, Number Two Pencil.And in headlines, the U.S. is facing its worst year for measles in decades, the DOJ withdraws its subpoenas of three New York Times reporters, and the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner 2.0 takes place tonight.Show Notes: Check out Madeline's work – substack.com/@numbertwopencil/posts Call Congress – 202-224-3121 Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/y4y2e9jy What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast Follow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/ For a transcript of this episode, please email [e-mail]

The Tates, in my estimation, are some of the most famous people in the Western world. And part of it has to do with how they have this international footprint. It's not just the United States all across Europe. They are selling themselves to young men as aspirational figures. I'm Todd's Willick, in for Jane Koston, and this is what a day. The show is saying, congratulations, sort of, to this. the endangered Nubian giraffes in Uganda on their new home, the Ajai Wildlife Preserve. They've been relocated because their old home is now an oil drilling site, which is a wild way to

rebrand basically kicking them out of their habitat. Keep your heads up, giraffes. On today's show, we talk about the Trump administration's sudden chill toward the Tate brothers with independent journalist Madeline Peltz. Before we get to the terrible Tates, here's what we're following today, Friday, July 24th. We don't believe there's any justification for the American government to increase the tariff on Australian goods. We believe we do take the issue of modern slavery seriously. We have some of the most progressive legislation anywhere in the world. We say that these tariffs are unjustified, and we call on the United States government to

reverse them. Australia's trade minister, Don Farrell, objected to the Trump administration's new rounds of tariffs, targeting, quote, forced labor. The Trump administration announced tariffs of 10 to 12.5% on 60 economies late Thursday, saying the countries had failed to adequately enforce a ban on goods made with forced labor. The new tariffs appear to be the Trump administration's attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling that struck down Trump's blanket Liberation Day tariffs from early. in the trade war. There are already more measles cases in the United States this year than in all of 2025. As of Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention logged more than 2,300 cases

of measles in the United States. This year has easily become the country's worst year for measles since 1991. With major outbreaks in South Carolina, Utah, and Arizona, smaller clusters of cases and other states have also been reported. So what's next? In November, international health officials will meet to determine if the U.S. and Mexico have lost their measles-free status. The United States eliminated local measles spread in 2000 by maintaining high vaccination rates, but those rates have fallen in recent years to below the 95% coverage generally needed

to prevent outbreaks. Trump's Department of Justice withdrew its attempted subpoenas of third. three New York Times reporters who it went after to try to find out who talked about the problems, the security problems, by the way, not the glaring ethical disaster, with Donald Trump's Air Force One jet gifted to him from the government of Qatar. U.S. District Judge Arun's Subramanian said DOJ didn't follow procedures or the law when it had federal agents knock on the doors at reporters' homes. The judge told the DOJ, quote, either we can quash the subpoenas or you could withdraw. all the subpoenas. And the DOJ took option B. Meanwhile, Trump's new gifted jet isn't off the ground,

either it's out of service for at least a month getting upgrades. The Justice Department says its investigation of reporter sources won't stop. The president will attend the White House Correspondents Association dinner round two, celebrating free speech in the First Amendment alongside all of you, members of the media. The president looks forward to finishing what he started before. for a despicable assassination attempt derailed the original event back in April. White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says the White House Correspondence Association dinner 2.0 promises to be a, quote, very entertaining and memorable evening. The rescheduled dinner is tonight at Washington's Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

That's the former Trump International Hotel from his first term. WHCA President Ouija Zhang told C-SPAN the guest list is smaller this time around, and there will be in hand. enhanced security measures. But maybe the biggest question is exactly which outlets and journalists are coming to celebrate free speech and freedom of the press with the president who's been working to undermine both. Trump himself has played coy about what he'll say tonight, but no matter what, as he wrote on Truth Social last month, quote, it'll be a hot ticket. And that's the news. Let's talk about the Tate brothers, Andrew and Tristan. The matter of the matter of the matter of

Maga-Aligned Manosphere stars were arrested again this time in Miami and are facing 59 counts between them of rape, sex trafficking, and more. They were previously arrested in Romania. And now President Trump's inner circle, including the White House, is backing away from the Tate's. But Maga is divided on just how cool the swaggering, allegedly scamming, criminally charged brothers still are. For more, I spoke to Madeline Peltz. She's an independent. journalist covering the right-wing media and author of the substack, number two pencil. Madeline, welcome to what a day. Thank you so much for having me.

Well, the Tate brothers have faced a lot of allegations over the years, rape, bodily harm, human trafficking. It's a laundry list, to be sure. Somehow they've continued to roam free from Romania, from Europe. Until last week, they were finally arrested in Miami, new charges. What are they being charged with now? They're being charged with additional charges of rape and human trafficking in the UK. These allegations go back over a decade, and this has been part of a long legal saga for the brothers who are both British and American citizens.

So Andrew Tate really came onto the scene about a decade ago. He was on a reality show. He was on Big Brother. His stint there ended abruptly when he was on video, assaulting a woman hitting her with a belt. Since then, how did he and his brother Tristan go from there to be? becoming really such massive stars of the right-wing mannosphere. So they have long been running this webcam sex content operation. And what they did was essentially in 2022, they set up a pyramid scheme to market a school that can teach men how to get involved in this webcam business.

So they started paying men to post clips of Andrew Tate talking on these short form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram. And it went super viral, you know, in a matter of weeks, I remember seeing Andrew Tate all of a sudden everywhere. And that is how they first really became the social media stars was through this paid, organized content marketing strategy. I'm not a 16-year-old boy anymore, thankfully, or a 19-year-old even, not even close. If I were, what would be my impression of the Tates if I'm online? I mean, how big of a deal are the Tates? The Tates, in my estimation, are some of the most famous people in the Western world. And part of it has to do with how they have this international footprint.

It's not just the United States all across Europe. they are selling themselves to young men as aspirational figures. So the pitch essentially is if you join their online school, then you can live like the Tates, which is, you know, you're surrounded by women, you're driving fancy cars, you're spending your afternoons on yachts. And that's the type of content that they are posting on a regular basis is this aspirational lifestyle that they want average men to believe. they can have if they adopt the Tate Way of Living.

If you aspire to much, much more than the Tate Way of Living, stick around. We'll get back to my conversation with Madeline Peltz in a moment. And if you like the show, leave a five-star review on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. What a Day is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It's everywhere right now. The celebration of America's 250th.

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Mmm. Like that. Loster Juice, Canadian-born, blending since 1999. Let's get back to my conversation with Madeline Peltz. So we can see the interaction between the cultural Manosphere and Maga all over the place. You know, to me, it's things like RFK, performing masculinity, doing pull-ups and push-ups, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as well. Donald Trump got a great ride on Manusphere podcast like Joe Rogan and others. So the relationship seems to be closer between the Tate's and Trump world figures.

What do we know about the relationships between them directly, figures in Donald Trump's own family and figures close to the president? A lot of what we know comes from this 2025 New York Times investigation into how the Tate's overcame these travel restrictions in Romania in order to travel to the United States. And a lot of that relationship flows through the president's son, Barron. Baron Trump met a friend of the Tate's and fellow influencer, Justin Waller, at an influencer dinner in Mar-Lago during the summer of 2024. That became the connection, the initial connection, between Trump World and Tate World. Baron Trump is reportedly a big fan of Andrew Tate's, and there were a number of other allies that, after the Trump's,

Trump won the election, ascended to positions of power and government, including Rick Grenell is a big part of this story. He was formerly the head of the Kennedy Center and also this young man named Paul Ingrossia. They're both really connected to Tate World and through Barron, Rick Grinnell, Paul and Grasia and also Donald Trump Jr. The Tates were able to get the Trump administration to pressure the Romanian government to lift these travel restrictions. and when they did, they ultimately came directly to Miami. According to the New York Times, an investigation that you mentioned, Andrew Tate texted a friend January of 2025 when he was being investigated while in Romania. And here's a quote from the text, I had word from the Trump administration that they're on top of things.

Now, I don't know if he was telling the truth in that text or what exactly he's referring to. what do we know about direct interactions, even in the legal sphere, between the Trump administration? And as Andrew Tate says, they're on top of things for him. Well, all of the figures in this story are closely intertwined with each other, both on the Tate side and the Trump side. One of these figures is the attorney for the Tate brothers Joseph McBride. He is, in addition to being a lawyer, a regular on right-wing media where he presses the case of various right-wing media celebrities who are involved in legal dramas. And he was one of the lead lawyers representing January 6 defendants, which really ingratiated himself with Trump World. And now in this current legal saga, Joseph McBride is really out front in the media, on social media, pushing the Tate's case.

So it's a combination of the diplomatic process. And one of the things that that New York Times investigation points out is that foreign policy experts were concerned that this whispered network that ultimately led to the Tate's being freed from Romania was overpowering a more formal diplomatic process. On the other hand, you also have the role of the right-wing media. Prior to this connection that the Tates made to Baron Trump, they had to. they had been doing the rounds on right-wing media podcasts, including Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, who were both then allies of the president and have since broken with them. So there's a combination of a public and a private effort going on to link the Tates to the Trump world. Okay, so there's a lot of history of love between Tate World and Trump World.

I think we've established that figures all throughout in the family and outside of the family. now they've been arrested in Miami, dozens of charges, extradition to the UK. Now the White House appears to be backing away from the Tates, right? The White House has said they won't intervene in their extradition, haven't heard any comment from people previously close to the Tates in Trump world. Why are they backing away now? I mean, I think they're just more of a liability than they've been in the past as we're coming up on the midterms.

When the Trump administration came into power, they had this hold on culture that seemed indomitable. They won the election through things like, you know, appearing at UFC events. And like you said, going on Joe Rogan and leaning into the hypermasculine currents in our culture that since have really lost their power earlier this summer, you saw this UFC event at the White House, for example, that, really was not well received by the public. And now they're trying to figure out a way to win the midterms, obviously. And the Tates don't help them do that. What you've seen from the administration lately is all of a sudden the biggest threat to America is communism. And so they're really going all in on this like anti-leftist message. And some of these past allies have fallen to the wayside as a result. All right. So obviously the White House is concerned with the midterms. That's politics

in a, can't believe I'm saying this, but in a strange way, that's kind of normal to be concerned with the midterms when the midterms are coming up. Maybe you don't want to embrace accused sex traffickers and abusers right at that time. But there is a split in MAGA world. Not everyone in MAGA world, Madeline is necessarily concerned with the next vote. Who's still feeling the love for the Tates in Trump world and who appears to be turning on them? So the Tates really sit at the top of this heap of what they call the manosphere, which is a loose collection of influencers, podcasters, public figures who teach young men how to manipulate women, how to benefit from get rich quick schemes through a doubling down on traditional masculinity. And the Tates really sit at the very top of this ecosystem. But there are a number of influencers underneath them. And they're all. speaking up in support of the Tate brothers. So maybe your audience, hopefully your audience has never heard of Myron Gaines, for example, but he's a very famous podcaster that hosts the show Fresh and Fit,

and he has been very vocal in his support of Andrew Tate, also Clivicular, who is the 20-year-old looksmaxer that's taken the internet by storm, and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes have all come out and said that the Tates are being politically persecuted. One of the bigger figures in this, who's a little bit separate from the Manosphere, is Tucker Carlson, who also said that the Tates are only being prosecuted because they have spoken out against Israel,

which, of course, is completely unsubstantiated. So on the one hand, you have the Manosphere that's totally rallying in support. On the other hand, you have figures like Megan Kelly and Ben Shapiro, who have long been outspoken, critics of the Tates that are now sort of taking a victory lap and celebrating this arrest. Well, say the White House makes good on their promise. I mean, White House press secretary Carolyn Levitt has said the White House won't be intervening in this extradition to the UK,

assuming they don't intervene. What happens next? When are they on a plane to London? I think they're being held right now in Miami and next steps are pending. So I think we should stay tuned to see what happens next. Madeline, thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. That was my conversation with Madeline Peltz, independent journalist covering the right-wing media and author of the forthcoming book, Good Girls and Alpha Males, How Conservative Media is Targeting Gen Z.

We'll link to her substack in the show notes. Before we go, the newly ignited Iran War is shrouded in secrecy. Trump's information blackout isn't just about money. The American public is being denied basic facts about the human toll of the war. On this week's episode of Runaway Country, Alex Wagner, is joined by New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman to unpack it all, examining how secrecy around the Iran War is sitting with the people who've served the country and the cover-ups happening inside our government. New episodes of Runaway Country come out every Thursday, watch on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, and send your

congrats to the Philadelphia 76ers and your condolences to all the other teams that lost out on the LeBron James sweepstakes and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just about how LeBron is leaving the L.A. Lakers after eight years and one title like me, what a day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Todd Zwillick, in for Jane Koston. And by the way, it's time to commit. Who's the goat of the NBA, LeBron, James, or Jordan?

The answer, of course, is Michael Jordan. At me or don't, it's Michael. What a day is a production of Crooked Media. Our show is produced by Caitlin Plummer, Emily Ford, Erica Morrison, and Adrian Hill. Our team includes Haley Jones, Greg Walters, Matt Berg, Joseph Dutra, Johanna Case, and Desmond Taylor. Our music is by Kyle Murdoch and Jordan Cantor. We had helped today from the Associated Press. Our production staff is probably unionized with the Writers Guild of America East.

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