Nick Adams, a conservative influencer self-branded as a Hooters-loving “alpha male”, has this week been announced as US President Donald Trump’s new special presidential envoy for American tourism, exceptionalism and values.
As he praised Trump for the “honour of a lifetime”, his Australian accent was unmistakable.
“The story of American greatness is the most exciting and inspiring in the history of the world,” he said in a social media video.
“Now, the greatest president we have ever seen has bestowed upon me the duty to tell this story near and far.”
The new role for Mr Adams took effect on March 17, according to a recently updated biography on the US Department of State website, which describes him as a “thought leader and educator”.
The profile makes little mention of Mr Adams’s Australian background, noting only that he was born and raised in the country and studied at the University of Sydney.
What it leaves out is Mr Adams’s first tilt at a political career.
Youngest-ever deputy mayor
Mr Adams once aspired to become the prime minister of Australia, according to a feature by the Washington Post in 2024.
He made his start in local politics.
Representing the Liberal Party in 2004, Mr Adams was elected to represent the now-defunct Ashfield council’s north ward.
A little over a year later, he was elected as deputy mayor, becoming the youngest ever in Australia at the age of 21.
Nick Adams has moved to the US since quitting Australian politics. (Instagram: Nick Adams)
But headlines during his local government career had a different focus.
Mr Adams established himself as a hardline conservative who promoted nationalistic and anti-multicultural values.
He appeared on SBS’s Insight program in 2006 and claimed multiculturalism divided and segregated society, prompting other Ashfield councillors to publicly distance themselves from him.Â
Rae Jones, the mayor at the time, said it was a shame Mr Adams had spoken in a “narrow and exclusive tradition”.Â
Marc Rerceretnam, a former Ashfield councillor, told Crikey Mr Adams frequently “racially” attacked him.
A series of harebrained plans
Mr Adams also dedicated a chunk of his time at Ashfield council to floating unconventional ideas.
In 2005, an outbreak of bird flu was spreading across the globe, carried by migratory birds.
Nick Adams proposed eradicating pigeons from his local government area in 2005. (ABC News: Gabriela Rahardja)
While the virus was yet to reach Australian shores, Mr Adams had an idea for action if it did: banish pigeons.
“Ashfield should be inhospitable to pigeons. Avian influenza does not respect borders,” he said, putting forward a council motion.
Neither do pigeons, though, as his colleagues pointed out.
“The mind boggles when I think of Ashfield pigeons flying to the border of Ashfield and stopping directly at the border, and saying, ‘Oh no, that’s Canterbury, I can’t go into there,’ and flying back in again,” Mr Rerceretnam remarked at the time, drawing rolling laughter from the room.
“I mean, what exactly is this motion trying to do?”
It was a question Mr Adams found difficult to answer.
“I’m not an expert, I’m not an accountant, I’m certainly not a pest controller. Don’t ask me about procedure. What I would like to see is no pigeons in our area,” he said.
The motion was not passed, but that didn’t discourage Mr Adams.
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In 2008, Mr Adams proposed DNA testing dog faeces to track down and fine owners who failed to pick up their pets’ poo.
Israel was trialling a similar program at the time that rewarded pet owners for cleaning their pets’ messes, and Mr Adams was keen to import the idea to Ashfield.
If introduced, dogs would be given a mouth swab when microchipped, and their DNA would be stored on a database.
Rangers would collect droppings in public areas and send samples for testing to find matches.
Like his bird flu pitch, however, this idea never made it off the ground.
“If he didn’t have a stunt, he wouldn’t turn up to meetings,” said former council member Mark Drury, of Mr Adams’s time in government in 2024.
Other proposals by Mr Adams included banning Germaine Greer from entering the local government area, and making Halloween a public holiday — a saga that featured on the ABC’s Media Watch.
Formal condemnation and suspension
As his stint in politics drew on, the young politician attracted more serious criticism, too.
In 2006, he was formally condemned by his colleagues for “racking up thousands of dollars” in phone calls and cab charges for personal benefit, according to a report by local paper Inner-West Weekly.
The Liberal Party also suspended Mr Adams for six months in 2009, after he verbally abused a journalist reporting on his council-meeting absences.Â
He resigned from local government in 2012.
Mr Adams later reportedly claimed to have resigned from the party before the suspension took place.
A false start in the US
In recent years, Mr Adams has re-emerged — this time in the US political sphere.
Through his platform as a conservative influencer and MAGA commentator, he has ingratiated himself in Mr Trump’s circle.
Nick Adams with US President Donald Trump in 2016. (Supplied: Instagram)
Last year, the president nominated him to be the US ambassador to Malaysia, sparking a small protest movement in Kuala Lumpur over Mr Adams’s views on Islam and support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, among other sensitive topics.Â
But the appointment was never confirmed by the Senate, and in February, Mr Adams confirmed his nomination had lapsed, telling the Sydney Morning Herald he would be “promoted” to a new role.
The new position is aimed at promoting US attractions such as national parks and monuments, the White House said.
A statement Mr Adams shared announcing his new appointment said he would “play a vital role” in promoting the US as “a land of unlimited opportunity for those who align with [its] traditions and values”.