Portside

Anyone paying any attention knows that Vance is a creation of Thiel — first in business and then in his political career. Aside from affirming the obscene power of wealth in American politics, with candidates having NASCAR-style sponsors, Vance’s elevation represents an urgent threat to the decaying threads of American democracy.

Thiel, amateur political philosopher, openly states his hatred of democratic and liberal politics while funding a stable of racist, fascist and authoritarian intellectuals, activists and artists (a number of them specifically associated with the Lower East Side/Chinatown haunt “Dimes Square”). He promotes several lines of fascist political thought — like Julius Evola’s traditionalism (cast through his latest interest, “Bronze Age Pervert”), Curtis Yarvin’s monarchism and the decisionism of Carl Schmitt — that have never before had significant currency in American politics.

Thiel’s early dreams of establishing libertarian seasteading to avoid taxes are now morphing into a more vicious plan of action with his acolyte Balaji Srinivasan’s “Network State,” an ideological vision of a global archipelago of authoritarian colonies that exploit or invade poor countries, modeled on Zionism and run on cryptocurrency. 

From observing cryptocurrency communities (which have their own forms of fascist propaganda in NFTs and memecoins), we can discern that Thiel’s ideologies are now widespread, and no longer obscure. A good many of the kids are al(t)-right; the “Network State” is becoming a reality.

Vance, a highly-online millennial, repeatedly echoes many of the tropes and ideas common in “Silicon Valley Fascism.” Vance’s Twitter/X account reveals a deep interest in the extremist rightwing politics that his mentor worked for decades to fund and cultivate. He participates regularly in the series of “National Conservatism” conferences supported by Thiel, which attempt to foster an American nationalism that is fully divorced from the liberal ideology of this country’s founding.

If Trump had any restraint in constructing a more traditional authoritarian state in his first term (when he rejected most of Thiel’s suggested cabinet nominations), such hesitations or incompetencies could evaporate after disciplined maneuvering from Thiel and Vance. The event of Trump’s impairment, resignation or death could immediately result in the transition of the American political system into something very different. 

The alarming question increasingly is why Vance’s selection has not triggered greater alarm among the institutions and “responsible people” that anchor the American establishment. Public reporting indicates that Trump listened to last-minute appeals from tech billionaires to select Vance. When his selection was announced, immediate praise came from right-wing billionaires like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen.

The Democratic Party may be near complete in its adoption of Wall Street corporatism, but one would hope that this extreme threat awakens any progressive or New-Deal spirit that remains. Or, conversely, Vance’s attacks on Wall Street may remind the existing corporate class that not all business leaders will be protected under the fascism of a triumphant Silicon-Valley oligarchy.

Vigorous attacks on Silicon-Valley fascism might help mobilize votes for Harris. Will the campaign offer the American people a serious crash course into the “Dark Enlightenment” politics, funded by Thiel and friendly to Putin, that cultivated a Vance?

As a former prosecutor, Harris would be in position to detail patiently the origins and ideas of the rising fascism, but this tactic would deviate from the American elite’s general disposition to avoid broaching the specifics of the increasingly radical and anti-American politics of the billionaire class. Prior Democratic candidates like Hillary Clinton acted as though the dangers came only from Russia, without interrogating the wealthy domestic sympathizers. 

Now, in this emergency, the appropriate reaction is not just to cherry pick a few sexist or authoritarian comments or soundbites from Vance with the hope that making fun of him (or his looks) will help Harris with swing voters. Democrats should move beyond talking vaguely about “deplorables” or “Project 2025.” 

Opponents of this new fascism must educate the public. A real anti-fascist front must be built. It is time to be clear and precise, to return to the New-Deal style of politics that respects the voter and is brutally honest about the dangers of the Republican opponent.

Democrats have already said plainly that this election is about the survival of democracy. With the truth of this statement becoming clear with the section of Vance, it is time to act accordingly.

Through the New Popular Front, the French found a working strategy to defeat populist fascism. It required calling out the threat accurately and precisely, building an all-hands-on-deck coalition with leftists and radicals, and conceding some of the flaws of the status-quo centrist politics that had enabled massive inequality.

In the United States, a winning strategy requires its own brutal honesty about where we stand as a nation and what must be done to mobilize disengaged voters. The current memetic euphoria of “brat summer” must shift toward a more disciplined and organized anti-fascist fall.

Facing this imminent danger, leftists and radicals must behave responsibly and cooperate with liberals and Democrats in the construction of an anti-fascist front. Leftists and anarchists may be alienated and discouraged by the fruits of neoliberalism, but they won’t have any freedom of action at all under right-wing authoritarianism. They could even be rounded up and imprisoned. 

The dangers of J.D. Vance and Peter Thiel are extreme. As an intellectual historian of fascism and twentieth-century ideology, I warn that exaggeration is hardly even possible.

[Todd Fine is a PhD candidate in history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the President of the Washington Street Advocacy Group in New York City.]

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