Seven Gay (Or Gay-ish) Men Who Helped Unleash Awful Donald Trump On The World

As his numbers in polls plummet, you might wonder who is supporting Donald Trump these days. As it turns out, there is a cadre of gay men who are happy to play sub to Trump’s dom. Some, in fact, helped make his rise possible. They range from fringe internet trolls to a George W. Bush speechwriter to a contrarian billionaire. Not surprisingly, they are all men, and white men at that. Many of them are ideologues first, and gay second.

Here’s a roundup of some of Trump’s lavender backers…

1. Milo Yiannopoulos

LOOK! It is possible to build a wall, after all! #TheySaidItWasImpossible #FabulousWall pic.twitter.com/7ESb5uskYL

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) July 11, 2016

Milo is the gay Ann Coulter. As a flame-throwing right-winger, nothing is off limits to him; the more outrageous the comment the better, no matter how farcical. He holds the distinction of being the first person banned for life from Twitter, for fanning racist and sexist attacks on Leslie Jones, and the equally dubious distinction as the first man to publicly proclaim his physical attraction to Trump. (It’s not a long list.)

2. Peter Thiel

Thiel is a contrarian, and what could be more contrary than a gay, Silicon Valley billionaire backing Trump? This despite the fact that Thiel, who comes from an immigrant family and believes in free trade, would seem to disagree with the far less intelligent and innovative Trump on just about every conceivable issue, including marriage equality. His appearance at the Republican National Convention was an exercise in upside-down logic, which is what we’ve come to expect from Thiel.

3. John McConnell

McConnell was a speechwriter in the George W. Bush White House, where, to his credit, he came out as gay late in Bush’s second term. Since his office was tasked with, among other things, using words to prettify the hideous war in Iraq and cowardly opposition to same-sex marriage, his day job could not have been easy. Of course, if you can make your peace the incompetence of the Bush White House and the homophobia that fueled Bush’s 2004 victory, then propping up Trump isn’t really all that much of a stretch. Good Republican soldier he is, McConnell was one of the hired-gun speechwriters who helped Melania Trump with her address at the Republican Convention. As it turns out, little of McConnell’s draft was used, because Michelle Obama contributed what Melania was really looking for.

4. Roger Stone

A lobbyist for Trump for decades, Stone earned a reputation as a dirty trickster during the Nixon Administration. Need we say more? Strictly speaking, Stone isn’t gay. He is, however, a swinger, setting off gaydar everywhere he goes. With his then-wife, Stone ran ads in a publication called Local Swing Fever looking for couples or  “exceptional muscular . . . single men.” When the story first broke, in 1996, Stone vehemently denied it, even though he and his wife were seen at a DC bar attending a “Dungeon Dance,” “a festive, mostly gay event that included a roomful of S&M hardware along with ambient circle jerks and blowjobs,” according to the Washington City Paper. (The paper reported that Stone didn’t do anything more than dance.)

5. Twinks for Trump

There’s a fine line between being provocative and being ridiculous, but not in this case. Twinks for Trump is such a parody of itself that the satire of the group on Twitter has to remind followers that it is indeed satire. The main twink is Lucian Wintrich, another Milo-esque agitator who will clearly say anything to get attention. Kind of like the candidate himself.

6. Mark Foley

Yes, there was the former Republican Congressman sitting right behind Trump at a Florida rally. Of course, Foley offered unsolicited advice to the Romney campaign as well–anything to get a bit of the spotlight that he squandered when he was disgraced after being caught sexting male Congressional pages even after gay activists and journalists begged him to come out of the closet and clean up his act. Of course, given Foley’s proclivities, he may just have been cruising for Twinks for Trump.

7. Roy Cohn

The sleazebag lawyer got his start as an aide to Joe McCarthy, which tells you all you need to know. Immortalized in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Cohn served as Trump’s confidant and lawyer for 13 years. In fact, he is often credited with teaching Cohn the fine art of the over-the-top, completely senseless political attack intended to distract opponents. Cohn’s been dead for 30 years now, but the fires of hell can’t burn any hotter for him than they do now, so we’re sure he’s backing the Donald from the Great Beyond.