The Man Who Thinks Trump Should Be King

The New Yorker staff writer Ava Kofman joins Tyler Foggatt to discuss her recent Profile of the iconoclastic right-wing blogger Curtis Yarvin. They discuss Yarvin’s desire to end American democracy by installing a monarch, whether his provocations can be seen as trolling, and how his writings have found a receptive audience among conservative politicians and the tech élite. “Obviously, Yarvin’s influence on the right is great, and maybe can’t be overstated,” Kofman says. “But, at the same time, a lot of these ideas he’s getting from having conversations with powerful people in Silicon Valley and with powerful people in Washington.” This week’s reading: “Curtis Yarvin’s Plot Against America,” by Ava Kofman “Democracy Wins a Referendum in South Korea,” by E. Tammy Kim “Josh Hawley and the Republican Effort to Love Labor,” by Eyal Press “Trump Makes America’s Refugee Program a Tool of White Racial Grievance,” by Jonathan Blitzer “Elon Musk’s Vanishing Act,” by Jon Allsop To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices