The Dark Enlightenment has long been undermining American democracy. It began slowly, quietly, without much attention, not with uniforms or marching bands. It began with a blog. With a man who calls himself “Mencius Moldbug,” though his name is Curtis Yarvin. And it begins with an idea: that democracy was a mistake. The movement that grew out of it - the so-called Dark Enlightenment - carries its contradiction in its name: enlightenment, but dark. Progress, but backward. Technology, but without morality. And by now, it has more power than anyone ever expected.
What Yarvin conceived was not a party, not a manifesto with marching orders. It was an ideological architecture. Cold, precise, cynical. A model state drawn on a drafting table. The basic premise: People don't need freedom. They need leadership. Hierarchy. Obedience. “Humans fit into dominance-submission structures,” Yarvin wrote in 2008, as if human beings were lines of code. In his view, democracy is sentimental fiction – useful for advertising, but useless for wielding power.
The ideology reads like a blend of Silicon Valley cynicism, fascist aesthetics, and feudal fantasies of power. It does not seek discourse. It seeks control. And it has long found a home - not on the fringes, but at the center of American power.
The Digital Feudalism
Curtis Yarvin, a conservative blogger and former software engineer, published his first theses in 2007 under the pseudonym Mencius Moldbug. Today, he runs a Substack with over 49,000 subscribers. He advocates nothing less than the transformation of U.S. democracy into a modern monarchy – led by a CEO-style autocrat. Contemporary institutions – universities, media, NGOs – he brands as “The Cathedral,” a system he says must be destroyed.
What once seemed fringe has become influential ideology. Yarvin is read – and partly enacted – by tech elites like Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and unofficially Elon Musk. Vice President J.D. Vance, a Thiel protégé, has cited him multiple times. Michael Anton, the future chief strategist at the State Department under Marco Rubio, calls Yarvin a key interlocutor. And Trump himself posted a photo of himself wearing a crown in February 2025: “Long live the King.”
By mid-2025, according to an analysis, at least 148,000 federal employees had left government service - voluntarily or involuntarily. The number illustrates the extent of the personnel exodus under Trump’s second administration, which has downsized, merged, or politically reshaped numerous agencies. Behind the dry statistics lies a profound structural shift: bureaucracies that took decades to build are being dismantled, expertise is vanishing, and entire departments are now run by provisional teams. Universities and media are under pressure.
Elon Musk’s influence through Starlink remains an extraordinary example of privately concentrated power in the 21st century. The satellite network, which now enables tens of thousands of connections to remote regions of the world, has become an indispensable communication tool for many nations - and at the same time a security risk. Through Starlink, Musk controls an infrastructure that has long become part of the critical sectors of global information and defense policy. Several countries - from Ukraine to Brazil to Italy - use or have used the system, or are in negotiations, often without clear legal oversight or state control of data. Governments are now trying to rein in Musk contractually, through national data control rules or limits on military use. Yet the core problem remains: an unelected individual has direct access to communication channels on which entire regions depend in times of crisis. In this constellation, Musk’s power becomes a political factor - not through elections, but through technology.
Yarvin was a prominent guest at Trump’s “Coronation Ball,” and although he admitted to the New York Times that his relationship with Vance was “exaggerated,” one thing is clear: his ideas live within this administration. In a 2021 podcast with Jack Murphy, Vance said: “Trump should fire every single mid-level bureaucrat.” Yarvin’s influence on the government is undeniable. In interviews with the New York Times, he said democracy is “not evil, just weak” - and therefore should be abolished. For Vance, who praised him in that same 2021 podcast, one thing is clear: “When the collapse comes, we’ll rebuild the country - better.”
The Techno-State
Yarvin’s ideology resembles a silent coup. His plan is called RAGE – Retire All Government Employees. Court rulings against it? Ignore them. Universities and media? Shut them down. The state? Privatize it. Separation of powers? Eliminate it. In its place: a CEO-president, governing in what Yarvin calls a “Full Power Start.” No reform. A hard reset.
Michael Anton calls it “Caesarism” – authoritarian one-man rule. In his book "The Stakes," he describes the end of self-governance. In podcasts with Yarvin, they discuss how an “American Caesar” could win an election – then dismantle democracy from within. Enforcing this order through military means is deemed “a necessary step.”
The Quiet Coup
Yarvin’s concept echoes a Silicon Valley strategist’s fantasy. He envisions an app for supporters – to coordinate protests in the style of the “Sons of Liberty.” A digital mob, orchestrated by push notifications. No need for tanks, just networks.
Thiel funds the candidates. Yarvin provides the ideology. Musk controls the infrastructure. Democracy doesn’t die in chaos. It is processed – into apps, layoffs, directives. Step by step, always more efficient.
The New Leviathan
At the center lies the idea: democracy is no longer efficient. It is a disturbance. What counts is speed. Control. Results. Government as a start-up. The citizen as a user. The president as a product manager. Nick Land, British philosopher and intellectual father of the Dark Enlightenment, formulated it radically in 1994: “Nothing human makes it out of the near-future.”
It is technocratic nihilism - fascist structure with digital aesthetics. Cyber-autocracy. A system without people. What they are planning is not a government. It is a corporation with executive power. A machine. And it is already running.
The Dangerous Circle
Während die meisten Politiker noch über Steuerreform und Sicherheit diskutieren, hat sich ein Zirkel aus Ideologen, Milliardären und Strategen längst zusammengeschlossen: Yarvin, Thiel, Musk, Vance, Anton. Ihre Ideen wandern aus Podcasts in Positionspapiere, aus Blogs in Regierungserlasse. Die Claremont Institute, ein rechter Think-Tank, gilt als Nervenzentrum dieser Bewegung. Anton ist dort Senior Fellow, seine Bücher kreisen um die Idee des „Red Caesar“ – eines autoritären Führers, legitimiert durch Zusammenbruch und Notstand. Die Idee: Wenn die Republik nicht mehr funktioniert, braucht sie einen Alleinherrscher.
Trump seems ready. In speeches, he calls for “real, tough measures” against crime - if necessary with “a very rough day” full of police violence. Against judges. Against the media. Against opponents. The new fascism wears no uniform. It wears a hoodie. And code. What remains is a warning. That democracy can be broken not only with tanks - but with algorithms, donations, and networks. And that, if we do not pay attention, the next Caesar is already being programmed.
To be continued .....
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