In conversation with PRA’s Principal Research Advisor Steven Gardiner, he and Koki discuss the wide-ranging practices, policies, and ideologies underlying the antidemocratic goals of the Neoreactionary Right—and how to resist them. Diving into the foundations of
A social movement based on a belief in biologically determined racial hierarchies, often with the ultimate goal of establishing an all-White nation state.
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and Christian
A power orientation that functions to maintain the relative power of some of the population, generally organized around race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or wealth.
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that prop up the billionaire agenda under Trump, their conversation pieces together the connections in topics ranging from privately owned micro states and the tariff regime intended to re-industrialize a post-industrial United States, to the fascistic, curtailing of opposition and checks on power.
Steven Gardiner is Principal Research Advisor, and formerly Research Director, at Political Research Associates. He has been researching and writing in opposition to the politics of
An attitude toward social identities that can be mobilized to justify discrimination, state/vigilante violence, and exploitation.
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, violence, and
A form of top-down political system that concentrates state power in the hands of a single leader and/or group of close allies.
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since the early 1990s. In 2004, Gardiner received a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from Cornell University; since earning his doctorate, he has taught more than twenty different courses at eight universities in the United States, Pakistan, and the UAE.
Episode resources
- Peter Montgomery, “Project 2025: How Trump Loyalists and Right-Wing Leaders Are Paving a Fast Road to Fascism,” Political Research Associates, February 14, 2024, https://politicalresearch.org/2024/02/14/project-2025.
- Erica Verrillo, “The Neo-Reactionary Coup,” Medium, February 8, 2025, https://ericaverr.medium.com/the-neo-reactionary-coup-6a5d797785ab.
- James Pogue, “Inside the New Right, Where Peter Thiel Is Placing His Biggest Bets They’re not MAGA,” Vanity Fair, April 20, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/inside-the-new-right-where-peter-thiel-is-placing-his-biggest-bets.
- Andrew Prokop, “Curtis Yarvin wants American democracy toppled. He has some prominent Republican fans,” Vox, October 24, 2022, https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23373795/curtis-yarvin-neoreaction-redpill-moldbug.
- George Michael, “An antidemocratic philosophy called ‘neoreaction’ is creeping into GOP politics,” The Conversation, July 27, 2022, https://theconversation.com/an-antidemocratic-philosophy-called-neoreaction-is-creeping-into-gop-politics-182581.
- Jason Wilson, “He’s anti-democracy and pro-Trump: the obscure ‘dark enlightenment’ blogger influencing the next US administration,” The Guardian, December 21, 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/21/curtis-yarvin-trump/.
- Ben Makuch, “Extremist blogger to debate Harvard professor at unsanctioned campus event,” The Guardian, May 2, 2025, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/02/curtis-yarvin-harvard.
- Hialy Gutierrez, “Exposing and Resisting the Coordinated Attacks on Higher Education: Q&A with Isaac Kamola on Manufacturing Backlash,” Political Research Associates, April 16, 2025, https://politicalresearch.org/2025/04/16/exposing-and-resisting-coordinated-attacks-higher-education.
- Scot Nakagawa, “Why They’re Winning And What We Can Do About It: An Issue of the Anti-Authoritarian Playbook Newsletter,” Political Research Associates, April 9, 2025, https://politicalresearch.org/2025/04/09/why-theyre-winning-and-what-we-can-do-about-it.
- Alyssa Bowen, “The Education Wars: Author Q&A with Jennifer C. Berkshire,” The Public Eye, December 13, 2024, https://politicalresearch.org/2024/12/13/education-wars.
- Ben Lorber, “Three Way Fight: Author Q&A with Xtn Alexander and Matthew N. Lyons,” Political Research Associates, March 11, 2025, https://politicalresearch.org/2025/03/11/three-way-fight.
- Steven Gardiner, “End Times Antisemitism: Christian Zionism, Christian Nationalism, and the Threat to Democracy,” The Public Eye, July 9, 2020, https://politicalresearch.org/2020/07/09/end-times-antisemitism.
- Aidan Orly, “101: Christian Zionism,” Political Research Associates, April 24, 2024, https://politicalresearch.org/2024/04/24/101-christian-zionism.
