Updated January 7th, 2021
Beauty influencer Amanda Ensing has found herself a the center of controversy yet again.
The 29-year-old is facing backlash after revealing in her most recent YouTube video that she voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 Presidential election.
“Have you ever stopped to realise that one party voted for the President because they love what he’s done for the country in policy and for the world,” she said. “I mean for the first time we’ve had peace in the Middle East, it’s just one thing out of a million. [Whereas] the other party voted based off of hate.”
Amanda explained she decided to clear the air after fans attempted to “expose” her political affiliation earlier this week when she tweeted that “identity politics is wrong.”
“Claiming any race or ethnicity to a certain [political] party is disgusting,” she wrote. As a self-proclaimed Latina woman, Amanda defended that people have the right to make their own decision regardless of skin colour or ethnicity.
In her video explanation, the Savage x Fenty ambassador addressed the internet’s attempt to uncover her political views. “It’s funny to me that a lot of people thought this week they could ‘expose’ my views and there was nothing to expose,” she said. “I just chose not to talk about it.” She continued, saying she will not apologise for thinking for herself and “not voting based off of a hashtag.”
“Meanwhile, if you knew what was happening in this country, you would be scared and embarrassed right now,” she finished before stating that her faith is a major reason she voted for Trump.
Amanda includes a list of “sources” in her video’s description box— a compilation of TikToks, Facebook posts, and Instagram tiles.
Unsurprisingly, fans are not taking kindly to Amanda’s decision to vote for Trump, nor her reasoning. At the time of publication, her video sits at 18K dislikes and only 4.1K likes with an overwhelming amount of critical comments.
Some have also taken to Twitter to express their disdain over Amanda’s video.
“Girl you a lost fucken cause and I’m shocked that someone with a Puerto Rican mother has the audacity,” wrote one Twitter user. “Do you not remember what Donald Duck did to the people of Puerto Rico when they were in desperate need? I’m baffled but not surprised look at the racist she is dating.”
On November 11th, the creator took to Instagram stories to double down on her video, using God and her faith to justify her actions. Referencing the Book of Esther, a book from the Jewish Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, Amanda compares herself to the Biblical Queen of Persia who was sent from God to prevent a genocide of her people.
“What if God brought me on this platform for a moment in time,” she speaks to camera. “When you read people in the Bible, all they have is their faith in God, you know?”
She goes on to say that after uploading her video on Monday, the first comment she read was “from the Book of Esther” and the first Instagram DM she read was also someone quoting the Book of Esther. She makes other far-fetched connections to the Book of Esther throughout the story series, seemingly trying to convince her followers that God has given her a social media platform to turn people against Democrats.
Amanda Ensing and boyfriend Rafael Maio are no strangers to controversy. Off the back of her vocalising support for Trump in November 2020, she has started 2021 off on a similarly controversial note –opening a Twitter feud against Jackie Aina in response to Trump protestors storming the Capitol building. Jackie, initially commenting on the double standard presented in Amanda’s initial tweet, to which Amanda replied attacking Jackie for an unrelated 2018 accusation.
The feud has also now involved fellow YouTubers, Shayla Mitchell and Alissa Ashley, who have both spoken up in support of Jackie, defending her against Amanda’s chaotic attacks and spread of misinformation.
The feud however, seems highly in character for Amanda, who has a history of being quick to publicly accuse. In 2018, Rafael came under fire when YouTube drama channel Here For The Tea discovered deleted Instagram stories where he seemingly threatened to shoot his neighbours over noise complaints they filed against Rafael and Amanda’s home.
One year later, Amanda got in a public feud with Kylie Jenner on Instagram after Amanda accused the beauty mogul of copying her photo.
“This photo looks awfully familiar ?,” Amanda commented on Kylie’s photo. The Insta in question showed the youngest Kar-Jenner seated on a chair with legs crossed wearing nothing but a floppy beach hat while on vacation.
One month prior, Amanda had posted a similar photo while on a trip to Mexico.
Kylie quickly clapped back, writing, “From the words of Kim K ur not on my mood board but I did get my inspo off Pinterest.”
As for Amanda’s current scandal, we’re filing this under “big ooft.”