In this episode of Trigonometry, we sit down with writer and podcaster Ashley Sinclair to discuss her new book, "The Dark Side Of: Andrew Tate's New York Times Opinions," and why she thinks the right wing is obsessed with Andrew Tate.
00:00:30.000Andrew Tate's not the problem, because if you take Andrew Tate away, you still have this massive group of young men who are clinging to that message on shows like the Whatever podcast.
00:00:41.960They're bringing them on for this humiliation porn.
00:00:44.740I think you're going to be really surprised at the number of people, the number of men who do have options, who are choosing to have AI girlfriends or live in this digital world.
00:00:53.300I don't think people realize how historic it is.
00:00:56.020For him not only to spend $44 billion for free speech, but to have someone who goes and tells Disney and their mountains of money, fuck off, I don't need you.
00:01:57.340And I think that's exactly what it is right now.
00:01:59.540And it's, for whatever reason, so much of the right is devolving into these Andrew Tate-isms, which, good or bad, I just think there's a lot more important conversations we could be having than whether or not it's been a good thing that women vote.
00:02:17.940But I also think a lot of these people who say, and for those unfamiliar, there's a lot of discourse eating up the right on the 19th Amendment, whether or not the 19th Amendment was a good thing.
00:02:28.820If we repealed the 19th, if women didn't vote, we'd always have a Republican president.
00:02:32.840Well, you could apply that to other groups as well, besides women, but it's just acceptable to hate women and say these things about women.
00:02:39.180Yes, if only white men voted, we would always have a Republican president.
00:02:46.780That's just the reality of the situation.
00:02:48.620So I think it's such a pointless conversation, but it's taking up so much of the dialogue that they want to blame women for all of the ails in society, which I just think is absurd.
00:03:24.800And so often when the topic of Andrew Tate comes up, I always say, Andrew Tate's not the problem.
00:03:30.480Because if you take Andrew Tate away, you still have this massive group of young men who are clinging to that message.
00:03:36.520Because I think for whatever reason, men do not really have role models or anybody to guide them in any way.
00:03:43.240So Andrew Tate is the loudest in saying these things.
00:03:46.580And then I think there's these folks in the right wing like Charlie Kirk who are clinging on to it because they see it's popular and they're grifting off of that narrative.
00:03:54.280So all of a sudden, Charlie Kirk, who runs one of the most important organizations on the right, you know, they're bringing in millions and millions of dollars.
00:04:02.420All of a sudden, he's repeating these Andrew Tate-isms that, you know, women should just not work.
00:04:07.500They should stay at home, even though his organization was built on women sacrificing their 20s and working at his organization.
00:04:14.040And it's fundamentally absurd, you know, that he's spending his time as someone who's that important on the right to say, well, you know what, women, if you don't get married in your 20s, you're less desirable at 30.
00:04:25.540This is a man who married his wife at 31.
00:04:28.160Yeah. And the fundamental thing that I think we can all agree with is when people have these conversations, I go, I think to myself, number one, you're a moron.
00:04:57.160And why are you talking about the fact that if a woman doesn't get married by the age of 30, she's barren, dry and all the rest of it and fundamentally undesirable?
00:05:05.920Don't clip that. It's not what I think.
00:05:07.440Because it's attention porn, right? It's more attractive to watch and very much society hasn't changed that it's really fun to watch a witch be burned at the stake, right?
00:05:18.260It's really fun to watch this humiliation of women on shows like the Whatever podcast.
00:05:24.960Jesus Christ wants you to do OnlyFans work, just so that we're clear.
00:05:49.260You have these women who they know, you know, they're just OnlyFans models.
00:05:53.380They're not exactly the brightest bulbs in the bunch.
00:05:55.460They're not bringing them on for intellectual conversation.
00:05:57.700They're bringing them on for this humiliation porn.
00:06:00.260And I think that's become really attractive and rewarded in algorithms.
00:06:03.900This sort of nastiness, this division of the sexes is rewarded a lot more than talking about what you or I or so many people might find more important.
00:06:13.680You know, for example, what's something you might find more important than the gender divide?
00:06:32.120Our times are defined by technology and our innovations.
00:06:38.660So we should be focusing more on that, what's going on in terms of technology as opposed to whether or not this woman's a three or four or whatever it is.
00:06:49.960This is the question I was going to ask you.
00:06:52.100For me, I've said this for a very long time.
00:06:54.620And I said this about there was a moment probably five or six years ago when sort of like these really dumb feminist narratives were rampaging through the culture.
00:07:03.340You know, the air conditioning in office buildings is sexist.
00:07:06.560And likewise, now when you see the opposite thing where it's like anyone who wants to put a wedge between men and women is not a healthy influence on our society.
00:07:22.020So the question for me is where do you think this male thing is now coming from?
00:07:27.980I just, again, I think it's really attractive to a really dumb population.
00:07:33.520I think men and especially those who are, you know, men are having less sex than ever.
00:07:38.620It's really easy to blame women for things that are going wrong right now.
00:07:43.280It's really easy to point to that and say it's women's fault that the country is going, you know, down the toilet.
00:07:47.880It's women's fault that I'm not getting laid.
00:08:15.400It's not really, I think especially my generation, Gen Z, and even millennials, they're defined by narcissism, which I don't think that's accurate at all.
00:08:27.020And Bo Burnham, if you're familiar with Bo Burnham, he speaks about this.
00:09:07.900But just to touch back on what's going on with the right, part of the problem that I have is the left overuse these terms, racism, misogyny, to the point where they don't mean anything.
00:09:20.420And actually, people who are genuinely racist and misogynistic go, I'm not a misogynist because you said Exa was a misogynist because he said there's two genders, right?
00:09:30.960But what I see on the right is actual genuine misogyny.
00:09:39.100And I may be stepping into my own conspiracies here, but I don't think it's coincidental that right before the election, the right becomes the exact caricature of what the left had said the right was for years.
00:09:53.840You know, many of us on the right knew that the right was not, you know, this anti-Semitic, misogynistic group of folks.
00:10:00.160And now all of a sudden we're seeing this rise in misogynistic rhetoric and people who fundamentally believe that women shouldn't vote and people who fundamentally are siding with the people taking over our universities right now.
00:10:12.340I think that's, I don't think that's organic.
00:10:15.140I think there's a lot more foreign bot farms and outside influences boosting these people in the retardo sphere than we have any idea about right now.
00:10:25.760In order to cause that division, because if you look at it and whether people agree with it or not, what is the top issue going into this election?
00:10:35.640Immigration and the economy would be the top two.
00:10:38.220Maybe for a Republican, but, you know, generally it's the issue of abortion and women's rights.
00:11:38.360I really believe that this is boosted by things that are inorganic.
00:11:42.160Because when you look at the engagement on some of these accounts, it is bananas.
00:11:48.300I really, at least I don't want to believe that that many people truly hold those sentiments.
00:11:53.940And maybe I'm just too optimistic about humanity and people.
00:11:57.080But I don't think it's organic at all, that all of a sudden this is sprouting up and we have this many people who genuinely believe that women shouldn't vote.
00:13:02.560They were running all of our philanthropic issues and volunteerism and activism.
00:13:07.800They were really fundamental throughout society.
00:13:10.220And those people won't recognize that.
00:13:11.580But I think that's a small subsection.
00:13:13.600I really do think there's something worse going on.
00:13:16.020Because why is all of this content allowed on YouTube?
00:13:20.900YouTube, who has been, you know, at the forefront of we need to protect those who are, you know, a protected class.
00:13:28.060And women typically fall into that class.
00:13:30.280So why all of a sudden is all of this content allowed on YouTube that is terribly misogynistic, that's terribly degrading to women, calling women three or four, saying they shouldn't vote?
00:13:40.560When I don't think that would have been allowed, you know, years ago.
00:13:45.360I think that would have been removed from the platform swiftly.
00:13:48.920Do you not think, okay, we're just stress testing this idea because it's interesting, right?
00:13:54.660So one of the obvious challenges that I think some people would put to this is that we've had, and this isn't even a devil's argument thing.
00:14:39.020So, and then men are increasingly struggling in education comparatively to women.
00:14:45.520And we know, statistically speaking, that women want to be dating men who are on their level or above in all sorts of different ways, including financially.
00:14:54.620So the opportunity for men to find a mate are reduced.
00:14:59.340They're being told that they're toxic and this and that and whatever.
00:15:02.720You put all that together, I'm not condoning it because I don't think it's the right response, being resentful and bitter about that for a man.
00:15:10.940But do you not think that some of it is just an organic reaction to the demonization of men over a decade or two or however long it's been going on?
00:15:33.840I also think women are just better at being oppressed and being, you know, turning into these because who created the school system, the modern school system, as we know it today?
00:15:54.900As soon as they're, you know, eight years old, seven years old, they're like, oh, well, you have an attention disorder.
00:16:00.060We're going to put you on Ritalin or you're going to, you know, you're in trouble in the classroom for not sitting there and being a good little worker bee.
00:16:06.580And I think women are just taking better to that.
00:16:09.020I don't know that that has necessarily, you know, I think in.
00:16:19.240And so men have, you know, gotten the short end of the stick when it comes to that.
00:16:23.120And when it comes to those systems that we've created and normalized, I also think there is a fundamental war on masculinity and just gender as a whole.
00:16:58.700It's everything that makes us equal is destroying things that made us different.
00:17:03.480Well, if once you start insisting on this idea that equals means the same, then you're going to erode all the natural differences between men and women, which are the source of the strength of human society, not weakness.
00:17:16.620Men and women being different and complementary is a source of strength.
00:17:25.600And so my question to you coming back to is, do you not think that rather than this being as much of a conspiracy to undermine the rights electoral chances, it's just a more naturally occurring backlash against that demonization of men and the erosion of femininity and masculinity that's been happening?
00:17:45.340And I think there's, again, you know, that has us go into algorithms and big tech and what they allow and don't allow.
00:17:53.140And they're really deliberate with what they allow and don't allow, as we've seen throughout, you know, since really like 2015, they're really deliberate.
00:18:00.380So maybe some of that conversation started happening organically because of this tension, because, you know, naturally men and women are both feeling more disconnected than ever from their biology and the world and each other.
00:18:13.660And then it's pushed into the algorithm at these insane rates and then pushed by what I've seen is looks to be inorganic.
00:18:23.600And that's really important to consider.
00:18:25.680What is the algorithm feeding people and why is it feeding people that?
00:18:29.940And big tech has been really pivotal in what's pushed in these algorithms, especially before elections.
00:18:37.700How much of this as well, do you think it's pornography as well?
00:18:41.320Like, you know, a lot of the time, if a man is not having sex, the only access that he has to sex is pornography.
00:18:48.300And let's be fair, pornography, I think we can all agree the image of women is less than optimal in that type of content.
00:18:57.200Eventually, you start to see women through that lens.
00:18:59.960Yes, and I think we're underestimating the number of people and men who would rather that digital world and who would rather watch pornography than have a real connection with people.
00:19:15.700I think especially as we have, you know, these AI girlfriends and this and that, I think you're going to be really surprised at the number of people, the number of men who do have options, who are choosing to have AI girlfriends or live in this digital world, as opposed to this genuine human connection.
00:19:30.400I think for whatever reason, it's more of a dopamine rush for them to watch porn as opposed to have a genuine connection and actually have to work on themselves.
00:19:46.460And so often we're watching people replace what is good and better for our souls with what's comfortable and more of a dopamine hit.
00:19:55.600And I think we're seeing that fundamentally.
00:19:57.500I don't know that there is this return to tradition, return to traditional marriage and, you know, general monogamy.
00:20:05.200I don't know that that's possible in the digital world because, again, we've replaced what's good for our souls with this dopamine rush, with this digital era.
00:20:14.340With this everything's at our fingertips as opposed to, I want to be in a marriage.
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00:34:33.320These people should be removed from office.
00:34:35.020I think if you can't name the top five people in the race to AI, you should be removed from office.
00:34:41.080Mark Zuckerberg is a supervillain in my eyes, not just because of the censorship, but because the potential for this data and this technology that he has,
00:34:51.900has the power to absolutely destroy the world, his AI capabilities.
00:34:56.400And when you look at the technology he has, and when you look at the data he has, and meanwhile, he is in Hawaii raising wagyu beef and picking macadamia nuts.
00:35:06.420If I had that much data and power and the potential to destroy the world and I'm picking macadamia nuts, that's a supervillain in my eyes.
00:35:25.200And that this guy is in, and these other people like Bezos and Zuckerberg and Sam Waltman,
00:35:30.360they are building the system that makes recommendations for all of humanity and filters everything.
00:35:36.380And they know not a damn thing about them.
00:35:39.320So what would you like to see happen on that?
00:35:41.920I think we need to, so also at the World Economic Forum, one of the people on stage at one of these panels discussing AI was Governor Jay Inslee.
00:35:54.020He is, I don't know how much you know about the state of Washington here, but you can't really get further left than the state of Washington and Oregon.
00:36:40.960Well, part of the reason, psychologically speaking, is that people on the right tend to have a different psychological profile.
00:36:47.760They tend to be pretty good at, like, running an office, not so good at being creative.
00:36:53.060This is generalization, obviously, but that's kind of...
00:36:55.880So, the reason a lot of professions that involve creativity don't attract as many people on the right is people on the right generally generalization,
01:01:33.180Just like it had nothing to do with the black community and what they were going through either.
01:01:37.540And I actually think the actual issue is being completely obfuscated.
01:01:42.060The real issues in the black community were completely ignored and obfuscated.
01:01:45.920The real issues for the Palestinians are completely obfuscated and ignored.
01:01:49.960And you have these spoiled little rich kid brats asking for humanitarian aid at Columbia University where they're paying, you know, an ungodly amount of money.
01:01:58.800Well, all this humanitarian aid talk is making me hungry.
01:02:09.360So, Ashley, it's been great having you on.
01:02:11.720We will ask you a bunch of questions from our supporters that they've already submitted that only they will get to see on Locals in a second.
01:02:18.380But we always end our conversations with the same question, which is what's the one thing we're not talking about that we really should be?
01:02:25.700AI and how we can have our principles, especially as it relates to free speech and liberty, how we can apply that to this new world that's run by AI and robots.
01:02:36.340So, I think that's what we absolutely need to focus on.