The political landscape is becoming increasingly dire, with a movement known as the “Dark Enlightenment” gaining traction among conservative circles. Led by Curtis Yarvin, this movement advocates for the end of democracy and the establishment of an authoritarian feudal system. Alarmingly, Yarvin has garnered support from influential tech billionaires like Peter Thiel, who view democracy as incompatible with capitalism. Figures like JD Vance, who has openly cited Yarvin as an influence, further amplify these dangerous ideologies. The intersection of political ambition and tech oligarchy poses a significant threat to democracy, as these billionaires are willing to support authoritarianism to achieve their capitalist goals. The urgency to recognize and combat this threat is paramount to preserving democratic values.

Below is from an amazing post on Facebook on the subject:

Things are looking pretty grim for the state of our country and it’s becoming increasingly frustrating to see some people not realize what is at stake. There is some very dark and sinister things that are brewing within the current political environment. A lot of it is so bad that it sounds like a conspiracy when you talk about, but the reality is you can fact-check these details: this is all unfolding right in front of us.
There is a “Dark Enlightenment” movement that conservative circles are pushing. Basically Project 2025 on steroids. The main figurehead of the movement is Curtis Yarvin. He believes democracy must end, and we must move to an authoritarian feudalism system.
That alone is problematic, but what makes it more sinister is the fact Yarvin has gotten support (in some way or another) from billionaire Tech tycoons. And unsurprisingly, JD Vance (who many believe was selected partially because of his ties to the technology sector) is also a fan of Yarvin. Rachel Maddow even covered an interview where Vance said we need to go back to traditional values “rip out the current American leadership class and re-install some sense of American political religion”, and EXPLICITLY cited Yarvin as a political influence who has ideas on how to achieve this. Yarvin has said at speaking events we need to “delete the US government” and he says we need a “national CEO – which is a dictator, and Americans need to get over their dictator phobia”. So when Trump said on day one/for one day he wants to be a dictator, we 100% should take that at face value because given the details above, it seems a bit too eerie to be a coincidence – I fully believe Trump meant it and he tried passing it off as a joke, but his motive was purely to see how many people on social wouldn’t care if he was: there are MILLIONS who don’t, I promise you. So if he’s elected, and decides to do so after he has an administration filled with NO BODY but Trump loyalists – who is going to stop him? The GOP has been gaslighting and delegitimize that statement – we will be fools if we don’t take it extremely serious.
Now is the intersection of the “Dark Enlightenment” and the Tech Oligarch. Peter Thiel (former PayPal CEO) has funded the Yarvin startup Urbit. Additionally, Thiel also has shares in Musk companies. And has said “I no longer think Democracy and freedom are compatible”. And has said many times he views democracy as a hindrance to capitalism, and claimed the easiest way to escape this is to have settlements in the ocean, space, and cyber space (which he and Musk collectively have companies trying to achieve those exact goals – and if you think he’s concerned about dying before seeing any of that happen, he’s also the billionaire funding anti-aging/immortality projects and plans to be cryogenically frozen upon his death and revived if technology ever advances to that stage – while it is a fanciful idea that we can have our lives significantly extended, that doesn’t mean he won’t die trying or run out of wealth anytime soon). He also specifically called the extension of voting rights to women as a hindrance to democracy and capitalism. Unsurprisingly, he’s also been bank rolling and mentoring JD Vance since his senate campaign.
Circling back to Urbit, it had supported a company called Miladyy – which was an NFT company. They even received endorsement from Musk himself in May 2023. However, the creator was exposed for running a CULT: racism, homophobia, and antisemitism were rampant in their discord chats with members (sound familiar?). They also groomed young girls to become anorexic, as well as encouraged them to commit suicide.
Am I saying Miladyy is connected to these tech billionaires and this is like pizzagate? No – as I said before, I’m not perpetuating any conspiracy theories and as of now there has been no evidence to connect them to Miladyy. But we know cryptocurrency is associated with illegal activities and funds black market activity. And billionaires wanting to push for deregulation across the board, while also wanting the end of Democracy to push THEIR ideal form of capitalism will undoubtedly cause these activities to rise (if they’re not actively pushing them themselves). But if Miladyy becomes a widespread problem going forward, will these billionaires care if it inevitably helps get closer to developing their own settlements in the ocean or space, or simply just further enrich themselves even more than they are? Doubtful.
But people like Musk and Thiel are immigrants. They cannot be president themselves. But now that they have JD Vance as Trump’s VP, it’s clear he’s their vessel for power. Especially since there could be significant barriers for them to achieve their longstanding goals of escaping continental settlements.
Purely speculative, but to me the reason these billionaires have now aligned themselves with the GOP is because in some ways, they are aligned (but not completely). But if they can get favorable exchanges from the GOP to help promote their own future endeavors, any potential differences they might have on policy would only be a short-term problem for them. If they can achieve their longstanding goals of escaping the US (and all governments) then they really don’t have much to lose if our democracy collapses – especially since they’re rich enough to overcome many of the potential political consequences the GOP could inflict on the rest of us (women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, etc) and if they continue bankrolling the GOP.
In short, we need to take the threat our Democracy is under extremely seriously. We are combatting a political party that is very pro-authoritarian, and they are being bankrolled by a tech oligarch that is extremely eager to help them do it. They do not care about selling out the rest of our country because they know a solid chunk would gladly be onboard with a Christian-Nationalist dictatorship, and they see the rest of us as people hurting their capitalist dreams – whether that’s creating their own new order in the ocean or in space, or just simply acquiring even more wealth.