Saturday, March 22, 2025

Dark Enlightenment

Yesterday I discussed how one expert on the history of fascism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, explained Trump’s destruction of America as a necessary step in the creation of an authoritarian government.

Thom Hartmann in his March 21 substack post goes farther, explaining the type of government they have planned.

First he points out the bafflement of Americans trying to understand why the Trump regime is tearing down their country’s institutions, and lists several theories:

·        Crippling government programs like Social Security, Medicaid and the Post Office so they can be turned into profitable private businesses

·        Destroying America at the request of Putin

·        Cutting spending to justify the planned tax cuts

They are all wrong Hartmann states.

The reason all these programs and other American institutions are being destroyed is to replace them with a new form of government. This new ideology is called Dark Enlightenment or the neo-reactionary movement (NRx).

The closest existing example of this type of government is in Singapore which has been described as a combination of “pro-corporate libertarian economics and state socialism”. It seems to be working fine, Hartmann says, adding “if you don’t care about freedom”.

Hartmann shared the story of his visit to Singapore back in 1994 to discuss his book on ADHD. In answer to a question on how to get schools to adopt his ideas, he suggested becoming politically active. He returned to his hotel room to find it ransacked by the police. The hotel manager, when summoned, was unsurprised and unapologetic. The next morning one of the people from his audience whispered to him that “We don’t talk about politics here”.

This is the model of government that Musk, Vance Thiel and others have in mind for America. Government workers will be replaced by AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) computers which will make most day-to-day decisions. It will replace democracy with something more like feudalism or monarchy. Donald Trump probably doesn’t understand what they are doing and will be used as a front for a while until they no longer need him.

Peter Thiel, who is responsible for mentoring JD Vance and getting him into the White House as VP, once wrote “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible”. Robert Reich responds “Hello? Freedom is incompatible with democracy only if you view democracy as a potential constraint on your wealth and power.”

Their mentor is Curtiss Yarvin a far-right former monarchist blogger who considers democratic governments inefficient and wasteful. He is a Trump supporter and views Singapore as the best example of a successful regime.

Robert Reich wrote about Yarvin in his March 20 substack post. The New Yorker ran an article on February 26 called “Techno-Fascism Comes to America”. Rachel Maddow has featured this movement on her program. Americans are gradually awakening to what is happening.

Let’s hope they wake up in time to stop it.

PS – Note of caution to my Christian friends: Yarvin is a self-proclaimed Atheist and there is nothing Christian about the planned government.

Sources:

https://hartmannreport.com/p/dark-enlightenment-rising-the-billionaire-071

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/trumps-attack-on-the-american-mind

Further exploration:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/infinite-scroll/techno-fascism-comes-to-america-elon-musk

JD Vance, Curtis Yarvin, and the End of Democracy (Oct 18, 2024)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrrsnFT-LNo

No comments:

Post a Comment

Judges Fight Back

These stories were reported in this morning’s TCinLA substack. As I reported yesterday, Judge Boasberg was appointed to the case of a laws...