There's some truth in that, but the door for free markets seems to be closing on the right in favor of whatever the hell this is: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/25/u...
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It's a weird ideological mix right now for sure, in no small part due to Trump's melted brain and obsession with tariffs. I think Slobodian's thesis that the alt-right/NatCon space are neoliberals/liberatarians who consciously merged with nativists and race scientists is largely correct.
aug 26, 2025, 7:38 pm • 3 0 • view
There's obvious tensions and weird contradictions there with traditional ideas of neoliberal/liberatarian free market ideology, but the genealogy and shared cast of characters was convicing to me. From the other direction,you can see that kind of ideology in people like Richard Lynn or Peter Brimlow
aug 26, 2025, 7:40 pm • 3 0 • view
That could apply to some of the tech-right, but in general, my take is a little bit different. I think a bunch of people who were part of the conservative coalition found out that they were unhappy with the outcomes created by the market.
aug 26, 2025, 11:10 pm • 1 0 • view
In some cases, this was for fairly sympathetic reasons: lost jobs in the rust belt, people in Appalachian communities feeling that they'd been left behind, the opiate epidemic. For others, it was rainbow flags during Pride Month and too many mixed-race couples in ads.
aug 26, 2025, 11:13 pm • 1 0 • view
I could maybe see that for the larger voting body, but I’m not sure the “elite” see themselves as connected to the hoi poloi like that
aug 26, 2025, 11:27 pm • 2 0 • view
I'd say too things to that. One is that the Trump era has shown the limits of traditional elite control. The other is that, frankly, a lot of that elite has always been old people with reactionary social views.
aug 26, 2025, 11:33 pm • 1 0 • view
They spent decades supporting a wordview that aimed to turn society into a giant vending machine, only to realize that it would inevitably be built to cater to the tastes of people they didn't like.
aug 26, 2025, 11:35 pm • 1 0 • view
Neoliberalism as ideology has always exhibited an odd mixture of cynicism and utopianism, perhaps best exemplified by the other Arthur Jensen. The one written by Paddy Chayefsky. It doesn't really leave much room for nationalism or traditional communities. youtu.be/35DSdw7dHjs?...
aug 26, 2025, 11:19 pm • 1 0 • view
Yes, they don't want free market capitalism, however much they might claim to. They want a system where they always win at everyone else's expense; they're neo-feudalists.
aug 26, 2025, 7:42 pm • 1 0 • view