Anti-Intellectualism and Technological Fascism

Ruth Ann Smalley

30 May 2025 — 5 min read

"While President Donald J. Trump might well have his own reasons for hating a university famous for its brain power, the anti-intellectual impulse behind Trump’s attacks on higher education has a long history in the United States."

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-24-2025

My family made a whirlwind trip to Montreal at midweek, for a graduation at McGill University. We attended a combined ceremony for the School of Law and School of Music. The usual commencement high spirits were palpable. For us, there was the added cheer at being outside the U.S., if only for a couple of days. But we were also struck by veiled and not-so-veiled references to the fraught situation to the south. More than one speaker emphasized the utmost importance of rule of law and due process. The usual exhortations to go out and do good work in the world seemed conveyed with a new level of urgency.

The mood also felt urgent in the context of academic freedom. While attacks on education are being carried out at all levels, the escalation of threats toward Harvard University recently is especially conspicuous. As Heather Cox Richardson describes in her May 24th letter above, the roots of resentment run deep in this country's history.The animus against universities was also completely out in the open in a 2021 speech by our now vice president.

Given the volume and velocity of the modern news cycle, it's possible that even fairly well-informed folks may not have been aware of Vance's hostile agenda. Looking back at that speech, I'm wondering: were his views broad-brushed by the media when he was being selected, or did I just miss it? And, in that same vein, how many fairly well-informed folks have a clear understanding of the lines of connection between Vance and Curtis Yarvin?

Maybe you can drop a line in the comments about how much of a bell that name rings for you. I will admit to not having heard of Yarvin until a little before the election.

My initial Learn, Imagine, Act resource list included a link to an earlier Cox Richardson letter where she notes Yarvin's influence. But I now realize the need to pay much more attention to throughlines from Yarvin, Peter Theil, and other Silicon Valley influences. If you know of additional helpful commentary, please share links in the comments. Meanwhile here's a round-up of some related pieces I've been or will be working my way through.

Starting with this Vance speech, with a title that can't get much more obvious:

The Universities Are The Enemy thumbnail photo

Here's the link to the speech itself, followed by another historical commentary.

And here is a recent Time magazine article about Yarvin's concept of the "Dark Enlightenment." This passage presents a dismaying timeline that looks all too familiar now:

"Two years ago, Yarvin laid out his strategic program with the acronym “RAGE,” or “Retire all government employees.” Yarvin argued that a hypothetical future Trump administration should terminate all nonpolitical federal workers to have them be replaced by loyalists. The government’s coffers must then be impounded and redirected, according to the blogger. When courts prevent unconstitutional orders, Yarvin says that they should just be ignored. After that, the free press and universities must be curtailed, as well—Yarvin said no later than April after the inauguration."

He advocates the "liquidation" of what he refers to as "The Cathedral," because it is an impediment to the kind of rule he desires:

"Yarvin, writing in 2021, posited (with significantly less poetry than the Futurists), “Because the university is the heart of the old regime, it is absolutely essential to the success of any regime change that all accredited universities be both physically and economically liquidated.”

Yarvin speaks disparagingly of something that he calls “The Cathedral,” a nexus of educational, media, and nonprofit organizations that he believes sets the tenor for discourse, but that also impedes the liberty of executives to do what they will. Rather his aspiration is, as he wrote in 2007, that 'the state is simply a real estate business on a very large scale.'”

The additional sources below track the involvement of other Silicon Valley figures in what some are calling "technological fascism."

Again, if you are aware of other good analyses of the role of these figures in shaping the playbook of the current regime, please put them in the comments. Thank you for being here.