A philosopher, a billionaire, and a senator are quietly building the end of democracy. Here’s your crash course.
Let’s talk about the Dark Enlightenment movement and its proponents.
First, what is Dark Enlightenment?
The Dark Enlightenment is a political movement that wants to get rid of democracy and replace it with rule by powerful elites, backed by technology and strict social control.
Its proponents don’t think everyone should be free. In their future, freedom isn’t a right. It’s something you earn by being rich, smart, or useful. Everyone else? Tracked. Filtered. Controlled by AI. You’d still have a job. You’d still pay taxes. But you’d never get a say.
They want Christian Nationalism but high-tech. This isn’t church and state. It’s code and control. The press gets shut down. Schools get cleared out. A single ruler gives the orders. You don’t vote. You’re assigned a role.
They think inequality is good. Curtis Yarvin, the guy who wrote the plan, thinks people should be ranked by class, race, and IQ. He believes some people are just meant to rule. And the rest aren’t.
They’re using AI to crush opposition. Peter Thiel’s company, Palantir, is already being used by law enforcement and ICE. This isn’t about innovation. It’s about building tools to watch, predict, and silence people before they even act.
This isn’t a warning about the future. It’s already started. JD Vance is in the Senate. He talks about jailing reporters. He calls for punishing political enemies. He’s backed by Thiel. He reads Yarvin. He’s not hiding it.
That’s the plan. And they are executing it.
Curtis Yarvin began publishing under the name Mencius Moldbug (yes, fucking for real. Mencius Moldbug) in the mid-2000s. His work wasn’t satire. It was an instruction manual. Yarvin argued that democracy is a dangerous fiction. He believes that institutions like the government, universities, and the media reinforce progressive values and prevent meaningful change. His solution was not to reform them. It was to replace them.
He proposed a new system of governance: a permanent CEO-president who runs the nation like a startup. No elections. No legislature. Just order. His ideal citizen is not a voter but a shareholder. He believes the president should be able to invoke emergency powers, dissolve Congress, and fire the entire federal bureaucracy. He even published a step-by-step guide explaining how it could legally be done.
Peter Thiel read those essays. And he agreed.
In 2009, Thiel wrote, “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” He sees modern democracy as slow, sentimental, and captured by the weak. He has invested in projects to build private cities outside the reach of U.S. law, and his company Palantir has developed predictive surveillance tools for use by ICE and police departments across the country. He built Palantir to track, sort, and predict human behavior.
Thiel isn’t just an observer. He’s an architect. He funds campaigns and intellectual projects that align with Yarvin’s worldview. He spent $15 million to elect JD Vance to the U.S. Senate.
Donald Trump is not meant to be the leader of this movement. He is a puppet, not the master. He is a useful idiot who, soon enough, will be out of the way.
Vance is no longer pretending to be a populist. He has said the federal government should seize the assets of liberal nonprofits. He has argued that journalists should be prosecuted for publishing disinformation. He supports using the Department of Justice to target political opponents. He praises the authoritarian governance of Hungary and has called for similar models in the United States.
He’s stated we may be in a post-democracy moment. He believes the Constitution is not sacred. He believes Christianity should shape public law.
This is not a fringe movement. It is coordinated, well-funded, and deeply embedded in Silicon Valley, right-wing think tanks, and parts of Congress. Yarvin wrote the vision. Thiel funds the tools. Vance is normalizing the power grab.
They’re not storming the Capitol. They’re rewriting the rules. Quietly. Permanently.
It is not trying to win elections. It is trying to make them irrelevant.
And it’s working.
A writer (Yarvin), a billionaire (Thiel), and a Vice President are working toward the same goal: to end democracy and replace it with a government that can’t be voted out. They are building it with money, software, and laws. It’s already happening.
Recommend TRENT HAS THOUGHTS to your friends
Essays, rants, and personal dispatches from a Southern strategist turned writer. Politics, memory, creative recovery, emotional wreckage, and the occasional text you’ll regret reading twice.
Follow Trent Harrington on Substack & Threads
About the Author
Trent Harrington lives in Nashville, studied political communication at The University of Alabama, built an award-winning agency, and led successful campaigns across the South. His work lives at the intersection of storytelling, strategy, and the stubborn hope that ideas still matter.
About the Author
Trent Harrington is a Nashville-based strategist, storyteller, and creative obsessive with deep roots in Alabama. He studied political communication at The University of Alabama, built an award-winning agency from the ground up, and led successful campaigns across some of the toughest terrain in Southern politics. His work lives at the intersection of memory, grit, and gay defiance – equal parts strategy and soul.
More by Trent:
Subscribe to never miss an article in the LGBTQ Authors Series or from the other important voices and topics we share at Four Elements Press.
Click for Submissions and Literary Services
Schedule writing/publishing consultations on Patreon or contact us below.
Make a one-time donation
Make a monthly donation
Choose an amount
Or enter a custom amount
Your contribution is appreciated.
Your contribution is appreciated.
DonateDonate monthly
Discover more from FOUR ELEMENTS PRESS
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
