JD Vance and the “Dark Enlightenment”: Peter Thiel’s $15 Million Man
What do JD Vance and the Enlightenment have in common? To an extent, you would be correct to answer, “Not much.” However, for years, technocratic revolutionaries who both influenced and funded Vance have worked their way into the highest levels of government. This is due to Donald Trump’s continuing role as a “useful idiot” to others who are more intellectually capable. These “Neo-Reactionaries” believe that the problems of the Western world began with the Enlightenment, or the “Age of Reason,” a 17th-century movement that kicked off centuries of scientific and cultural advances.
The “Dark Enlightenment” is a new philosophy based on a very old idea. It stands opposed to democracy in favor of either medieval feudalism or outright monarchy. The Dark Enlightenment is also called “Neo-Reactionism” because it’s mostly a reaction to Enlightenment values, e.g., democracy, human rights, and multiculturalism. These Enlightenment values make up a cultural apparatus that Neo-Reactionaries refer to as “the Cathedral,” a tongue-in-cheek reference to the split between Church and Intellect during the original Enlightenment of the 1600s. The “priest class” of this Cathedral is made up of higher learning institutions like Harvard and Yale, as well as media establishments like the New York Times. Neo-Reactionaries believe that the Cathedral represents an existential threat to Western society and that society would be better served by a tech bro CEO king. For the neo-reactionary, the only way to save Western society is to dissolve the social, political, and cultural institutions that evolved from the Enlightenment and create a new society of corporate technocratic city-states with a CEO as the de facto ruler.
So, who are these technocratic would-be kings?
One of the original authors of the Dark Enlightenment is Curtis Yarvin who began his career in the tech industry as a libertarian blogger using the alias Mencius Moldbug. His blog, Unqualified Reservations, is a diatribe against democracy and Enlightenment values. His writings have influenced far-right cultural heavy-hitters like Steve Bannon for over a decade. He was even the one to steal the term “red-pilled” from The Matrix, a popular sci-fi film from the late 90s created by trans women... It’s worth noting that Yarvin’s philosophy is often “anti-woke,” and also strongly grounded in the kind of scientific racism that was used to justify slavery before the Civil War.
But philosophies like Yarvin’s wouldn’t gain much ground without funding, which is where his friend, mega-donor Peter Thiel, comes in. Thiel became a billionaire through his career as a venture capitalist, acting as a co-founder of both PayPal and Palantir Technologies, and he even financed one of Curtis Yarvin’s start-ups. Yarvin and Thiel remain close acquaintances, exchanging ideas and dividing the task of bringing Neo-Reactionary ideals to the forefront of the technocratic libertarian movement.
Thiel has used his wealth to fund his way into privileged positions within the American Halls of Power. Vice President JD Vance recalls attending a talk by Peter Thiel while he was a student at Yale as his “most significant moment.” After Vance graduated, Thiel hired him at his investment firm, Mithril Capital. He also donated $15 million toward Vance’s successful campaign for Ohio Senator. From there, Thiel introduced his man Vance to President Donald Trump himself, which solidified Vance’s place as a Dark Enlightenment influence within the Executive Branch.
Is this all just a bad sci-fi novel written by a bored billionaire with a weak imagination? Or is the Dark Enlightenment really taking hold of our democracy through one useful idiot at a time? There have been rumors of Washington D.C. becoming the first model “Freedom City” run by a corporate interest, and time will tell if the current administration is willing to sell off the District of Columbia to the highest bidder.