Every American knows what it’s like to be governed by a regime whose agenda is foolish and whose ambitions are hubristic. What’s new is being governed by a regime whose intentions are, transparently, malign.

Case in point: News broke this weekend that the White House is leaning on Romania’s government to lift travel restrictions on Andrew and Tristan Tate.

The Tate brothers are “manosphere” influencers with a following on the American right, and no wonder. Andrew preaches remorseless dominance, particularly over women, and relishes flaunting his wealth; he’s a younger, surlier Donald Trump, essentially, just as immoral and twice as boorish. Unsurprisingly, and also like Trump, his degeneracy has landed him in criminal trouble: He and his brother are facing charges in Romania related to human trafficking, sexual misconduct, money laundering, and organized crime.

Evil stuff. Yet not only have Trump’s deputies gone to bat for the Tates, they’ve done so surely realizing that if the two are allowed to leave Romania, they’ll never return to face the consequences. Pressuring Bucharest to let them flee is as close as the White House can get to issuing the two a presidential pardon for human trafficking.

Nick Catoggio