A Very Brief Introduction to the New Right

For the curious reader

One month ago Donald Trump was re-elected as President of the United States. His win in 2024 was more decisive than his win in 2016, coming as it did with Republican majorities in the House and Senate and victory in the popular vote.

Trump in 2024 will be more radical than Trump in 2016 — he’s already nominated RFK Jr. for HHS secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for head of the DNI, and Elon Musk for an unofficial “Department of Government Efficiency”.

The following is meant to explain the theoretical foundations of “new Trump” and the competing ideologies which are the now the backbone of the intellectual MAGA movement. If you’re confused why there are so many Catholics in the Federalist Society at Yale Law School, or why some portion of Silicon Valley has swung towards cultural Christianity in addition to supporting Trump, I believe the below anthology is a good starting point for developing context.

BAPists

What: A faction that venerates strength and “human quality”. Hardcore BAPists are few are far between, but they were disproportionately influential in setting the terms of the debate for TNR, rejecting fundamental Republican tenets like the virtue of Christianity and the equality of persons. BAPists are not concerned with economic growth, inflation, or other variables which improve the comfort of “mere life”. Instead they value the opportunity to live gloriously.

Who: Bronze Age Pervert, Nietzsche, Young Trump Staffers

Bible: Bronze Age Mindset

Selected Works:

• Are the Kids Al(t) Right?

• The Rise and Fall of the Pajama-Boy Nietzscheans

• America’s Delusional Elite is Done

• How Bronze Age Pervert Charmed the Far Right

• BAP on the Abuse of War

• Selective Breeding and the Birth of Philosophy

Integralists

What: A group that thinks the Enlightenment was a mistake. The majority of Integralists (so-called because of their desire to integrate Church and State) are Catholic, and many are recent converts. The intellectual vanguard of this movement dominates the young right wing at schools like Harvard, Stanford, and Yale (which have also been the scene of small-scale conversions to Catholicism), and are most prominent in the conservative legal movement. They are more pro-union and tariffs than standard Republicans.

Who: Adrian Vermeule, Patrick Deneen, Nick Fuentes, Gladden Pappin

Bible: The Bible

Selected Works:

• The Straussian Moment

• Liturgy of Liberalism

• Beyond Originalism

• Against Heterosexuality

• Against David Frenchism

• The Value of Nothing

• The Age of Pelagius

Monarchists

What: A group that believes the government should be run like a corporation, with all of the efficiencies and concentration of power that that entails. Their ideal governments look like Singapore, Rwanda, US under FDR, and the British Monarchy. For this group, outcomes rather than process are paramount.

Who: Curtis Yarvin, Nick Land

Bible: Open Letter to Open Minded Progressives

Selected Works:

• Plan A for the Coronavirus

• Technology, Communism, and the Brown Scare

• The Dark Enlightenment

• A Gentle Introduction to Unqualified Reservations

• From Cromer to Romer and Back Again

Potpourri

Grey Tribe

• I Can Tolerate Anything Except the Outgroup

• Coinbase is a Mission Focused Company

• Praxis: Master Plan

Anti-Woke

• Women’s Tears Win in the Marketplace of Ideas

• Wokeness as Old-Time American Religion

• Americanism and its Enemies

E/Acc

• Against Edenism

• It’s Time to Build

• The End of the Future

• The Tinkerings of Robert Noyce