The Right Stuff, a new dating app aimed at political conservatives, launched on Sept. 30, 2022. John McEntee, former Trump administration personnel chief, and Daniel Huff, former Trump appointee in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, co-founded the app, which is billed as “a dating app for the right wing.”
“Right now, conservatives are spread out on all these different dating apps,” writes McEntee in an article for Newsweek. “We’re consolidating that.” He continues:
I believe conservatives exist on mainstream dating apps, but have to hide their political views because the vitriol against them is so strong. We’re trying to be traditional in our values, but keep things light. The biggest difference is that whether you’re looking for marriage, a serious relationship or just fun, it’s almost guaranteed that everyone on the network will support your political views.
The Right Stuff Targets the Right Wing
The website for The Right Stuff says, “The Right Stuff was created for conservatives to connect in authentic and meaningful ways. Other dating apps have gone woke. We bring people together with shared values and similar passions.” One of the selling points for the app is that users will get “back to normal” by not putting their pronouns in their profiles.
Women in an ad for the app say they are looking for partners who are conservative and who value faith and family. They say they want conservative men because these men actually act like men and treat women like women. One woman says she likes men who are “masculine,” while another says she likes “the Alpha male vibe.” One value all of the women in the commercial agree on is that the men they are looking for absolutely cannot be Democrats.
When people sign up for The Right Stuff, the app asks them to list their sex as either male or female and then asks for height, birthday, hometown, and whether or not they want children. People select from the following religious beliefs: Buddhist, Catholic, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Spiritual or Non Practicing. Following that, users add a profile picture and select five additional photos for their profiles. Users also have the option of adding music to their profiles, which viewers will hear as the profile photos appear consecutively.
Prompts users can select include ones that are fairly typical for dating apps, such as ”Fact about me that surprises people” and “Give me travel tips for.” Others that are not as typical include “Favorite fact about America” and “Favorite liberal lie.”
A key feature of The Right Stuff is that it is “invite-only,” meaning that users cannot sign up for it without an invitation. “The platform is invite-only, which means as long as users don’t intentionally mislead someone or promote something harmful they’re allowed on The Right Stuff,” says McEntee. “But, if someone who was disrespectful of conservative views did make their way onto the app, other users could simply un-match them. We’re trusting our initial influencer group to create a high-quality network.”
Once users set up their profiles, the app requires the invitation and requests to access users’ contacts to see if any friend can send that invitation. If users decide to wait for an invitation, the app suggests they invite their “right wing friends” in the meantime. The invite-only nature of the app is the source of much of the frustration expressed in negative reviews left in Apple’s App Store, where The Right Stuff currently has 2.8 out of 5 stars.
McEntee told Religion News Service that he believes Christians will make up the majority of the app’s users. Curiously, while The Right Stuff does not offer options for LGBTQ users, it is funded in part by Peter Thiel, a billionaire who is in a same-sex marriage.
Dominion Dating: For ‘Biblically Faithful Singles’
Another app trying to appeal to a niche audience is Dominion Dating, which gets its name from God’s command to Adam and Eve to rule the earth in Genesis 1:28. Dominion Dating’s website says, “Join a growing network of bold, biblical singles ready to build families, shape culture, and obey the creation mandate by being fruitful, multiplying, and exercising dominion over the world.”