Dark Enlightenment Dive

(Originally posted March 9, 2025)

I have been hesitant to do this deep dive for a while, but I am seeing more people talk about it so I think it’s time.

I first found out about a lot of this on election night by accident, where I threw myself into the Internet trying to figure out who these people are and how the hell what just happened, happened. I will try to make this as easy to understand as possible. If you’d like me to elaborate on anything, just let me know.

The key figures in this are Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, JD Vance, Donald Trump and Curtis Yarvin.

Who is Peter Thiel?

+ Started “Confinity” in 1998, which merged with Elon Musks company “X”(1999, not Twitter), and they formed PayPal. Elon served as CEO originally, but they had a falling out and Peter replaced him.

+ Early investor in Facebook.

+ Founded “Palantier Technologies”, a data analytics company with strong ties to government and military contracts.

+ Started “Founders Fund”in 2005, a venture capitalist firm that has invested in companies like SpaceX, AirBnb and Stripe.

+ He has also invested in various tech companies like LinkedIn, Yelp and OpenAI

The relationship between Peter Thiel, Donald Trump and Republicans

+ Thiel was one of the few Silicon Valley figures to openly support Trumps campaign in 2016. He famously spoke at a Republican National Convention stating “I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be Republican.” The room of republicans all stood and cheered for this.

+ Following the victory of Donald, Thiel was elected to Trumps transition team where he leveraged his connections to Silicon Valley to bridge gaps for the upcoming administration.

+ In 2016, Thiel facilitated a meeting between Trump and top tech executives like Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook.

+ By February 2022, Thiel was one of the largest donors to Republican campaigns with more than 20 million dollars. He supported 16 senatorial and congressional candidates, many who believed there was “election fraud”. Two of those candidates included Blake Masters (who lost) and JD Vance.

+ In an interview in 2023, Thiel claimed he had “lost interest in democracy” and wouldn’t be funding anymore politicians in presidential campaigns, including Donald Trump.

The relationship between Peter Thiel and JD Vance

+ JD Vance and Peter Thiel first met in 2011 at Yale Law School after Thiel had given a talk. Vance described it as “the most significant moment of his time.”

+ In 2017, Thiel hired Vance to work at his global investment firm, Mithril Capital.

+ In 2019, Vance founded Narya Capital, a venture capital firm with significant backing from Thiel.

+ In 2021, Thiel introduced Vance to Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

+ In 2022, Thiel funded Vance’s Ohio Senate campaign.

Who is Curtis Yarvin?

+ Curtis Yarvin, aka “Mencius Moldbug”, is the founder of a fringe, anti-democratic ideology called “The Dark Enlightenment” or “Neoreactionary Thought” (NRX).

+ His writings reject democracy and egalitarianism, suggesting the state should be run “like a company with a strong technocratic leader or CEO figure.”

+ Claims democracy is a “failed experiment” and should be run by a “King CEO” to restore order and efficiency.

+ He argues that progress is a myth and that some people are “naturally fit to rule.”

+ He proposes abolishing elections and replacing them with a corporate style, centralized government.

+ He claims the Civil Rights Movement was a “mistake” and forced equality. He argues that hierarchy is “natural.”

+ He believes that libertarians are “weak” and that the right should actively seize and wield power. (Sound familiar?)

+ He says libertarians focus too much on “freedom” and should, instead, focus on “restructuring society.”

+ He believes not everyone should have the right to vote, that only “most competent” people should rule and vote.

+ He says the North and South should have remained segregated.

+ He argues that the country should be run by billionaires like “Elon Musk and Peter Thiel.” (Hmmm.)

+ He believes authoritarian rule is desirable and that we should “stop focusing on freedom and resisting.”

+ His ideal leader would be a “techno monarch” who is unelected, unquestioned and permanently in power.

+ He believes in 50 years America should be completely different, one without Congress or the Supreme Court.

+ He hates the free press and claims journalists are “high priests of the regime.”

+ He believes the person in power should “dismantle federal agencies, fire bureaucrats and replace them with handpicked loyalists.” (Interesting.)

+ He believes women’s suffrage was a mistake and that we should not be allowed to vote.

+ He believes crime should be handled with EXTREME measures. He proposes a “zero tolerance governance” where the state uses overwhelming force to maintain order.

+ He once said that poor and unproductive people should be turned into “biofuel” and that the unemployed should have “mandatory” government issued ankle monitors. (Wtf??)

+ Throughout the 2010s, Yarvins views quietly infiltrated Silicon Valley.

How is all of this connected?

+ Yarvin is a personal friend of both Peter Thiel and JD Vance.

+ Thiel has hosted Yarvin at private gatherings.

+ Thiel invested in Yarvins company Tlon/Urbit.

+ JD Vance and other people in Trumps circle have openly endorsed Yarvin. According to Politico, Steve Bannon was alleged to have private contact with him, but Yarvin denies this claim.

+ Politico named Yarvin as one of the “7 Thinkers that Shaped Vance’s Worldview.”

+ In 2021, Vance openly endorsed Yarvins call to replace all mid level bureaucrats with loyalists.

I may add more information to this later, but this is something I highly recommend you research and investigate on your own. It’s quite a dark rabbit hole, and it runs deep and involves quite a few people.