He’s anti-democracy and pro-Trump: the obscure ‘dark enlightenment’ blogger influencing the next US administration

Key figures in the incoming administration follow Curtis Yarvin, who’s pushing for an autocratic takeover of the US

Anton's and Yarvin’s conversation was ostensibly about his 2020 book, The Stakes. That book was controversial even on the right for its prolonged consideration of autocratic “Caesarism” as a means of resolving American decadence.

In the book, he defined Caesarism as a “form of one-man rule: halfway … between monarchy and tyranny”.

He adds, though, that “Caesarism is not tyranny, which, strictly understood, is a regime that usurps a legitimate and functioning government”, whereas Caesarism implements “authoritarian one-man rule partially legitimized by necessity” – that is, “the breakdown of republican, constitutional rule”, adding that “a nation no longer capable of ruling itself must yet be ruled”.

He writes that a “Red Caesar” could be attractive to “the reds” in the Republican coalition, who he says are “under constant rhetorical, political, and, increasingly, physical attack, especially in blue states”, making them “more likely to turn to a Caesar”.