Editorials & Other Articles

marmar

(77,090 posts) Mon Apr 1, 2024, 09:14 AM Apr 1

A Night Out With Donald Trump's Favorite "Alpha Male" Influencer

A Night Out With Donald Trump’s Favorite “Alpha Male” Influencer
Trump loves this guy. The MAGA bros aren’t so sure.

BY EZRA MARCUS
MARCH 31, 20247:00 PM

(Slate) Just like any outpost behind enemy lines, the New York Young Republican Club maintains a low profile in Manhattan. “This location must be kept private,” read the ticket receipt I received for an event at the club in February. “Don’t forget to WEAR RED!”

....(snip)....

I’d come that night for a talk by Nick Adams, a conservative influencer from Australia whose viral social media posts have earned him prominence in the MAGA movement. He’s been an official surrogate for Trump since the 2020 election, appearing on talk shows across the political spectrum to defend the ex-president with a pit bull’s determination. On his website, Adams calls himself “the Godfather of the ‘Alpha King’ movement,” inspiring his “3M+ social media followers to ‘level up’ in every aspect of their lives.” This event was a stop on his book tour for Alpha Kings, his seventh volume to date.

....(snip)....

Is Adams an overwrought activist or a deft satirist on an undercover mission? That question is a big part of the enigma. Let me call your attention to Adams’ posts about the joys of golfing with men, which soar past odes to male bonding and directly into gleeful homoeroticism. In one such story posted online, Adams writes of encountering Ricardo, “a fit young man with thick dark hair who looked to be of Latin descent.” Admiring the “tour stiff shafts in all his clubs,” Adams sensed that Ricardo was “searching for something”:

The boy had game, but then I noticed his hips weren’t moving with the same fluidity and power I would expect based on his shafts. “Eureka,” I whispered to myself. I had figured it out. He was carrying a burden. This young man needed some masculine guidance, and God dropped him right into my lap.

....(snip)....

At the club, I chatted with members of the New York Young Republican Club’s leadership, who seemed equally unsure about the Alpha King’s shtick. “Is he even Australian?” asked Vish Burra, the group’s executive secretary, who recently served as director of operations for George Santos during his tenure as a representative in Washington. “I think that’s a psy-op.” .................(more)

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2024/03/donald-trump-2024-news-nick-adams-republicans.html