by WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has nominated a fiery right-wing influencer known for his machismo and professed love for steaks and Hooters to be the ambassador to Malaysia.
Nick Adams, an Australian-American who immigrated to the United States and became an early, fawning supporter of Trump, has amassed a conservative following with his over-the-top “alpha male” persona. He is part of an unruly world of online content that primarily appeals to young men, known as the “manosphere” — many of whom have aligned with Trump or been sympathetic to his policies.
In a video shared on social media — lacking the incendiary rhetoric and vulgar humor that elevated him to political prominence — Adams thanked Trump “for the honor of a lifetime,” adding, “In your America, all dreams come true.”
Adams, whose nomination to be the top diplomat to a Muslim-majority country of 35 million was sent to the Senate on Wednesday, has a history of Islamophobic remarks in his online commentary, denigrating Trump’s political rivals as supporters of Islam and railing against purported efforts to “teach Islam in schools.” As a surrogate in Trump’s 2024 campaign, he shifted to promote the views of Muslim Trump supporters, part of an effort to drive a wedge in the Democratic voter base over the war in the Gaza Strip.
Online, Adams has gleefully indulged in crass jokes and other forms of internet trolling. He posts frequently about stereotypical symbols of masculinity, like eating steak and frequenting Hooters — the chain restaurant famous for its half-naked waitresses. In February, he wrote that Hooters’ planned bankruptcy was caused by “Bidenflation, combined with the woke un-Americanism of the Democrats.”
He continued, “I personally volunteer myself to lead a Presidential Taskforce For The Preservation of Hooters.”
Trump wrote the foreword to Adams’ most-recently published book promoting macho ideology, “Alpha Kings,” praising him as “one of my favorite authors and also one of my favorite speakers.”
He continued, “Like me, I know that Nick appreciates the power of humor, when it comes to making a point.”
Once a local politician in Australia, Adams was pushed out of the center-right Liberal Party there for conduct “likely to embarrass or cause damage to the reputation” of the party. In 2017, Trump promoted another of his books, “Green Card Warrior: My Quest for Legal Immigration in an Illegals’ System,” which was published soon after he arrived in the United States. Adams became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2021.
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times
.
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