Democratic Insiders Are Sharing A Warning About Curtis Yarvin, Elon Musk & Neoreactionaries

Robert walks the audience through a document being shared by DNC employees and think tank workers about the threat Curtis Yarvin and Elon Musk pose to democracy.

Read Robert's full piece on Substack: https://shatterzone.substack.com/p/democratic-insiders-are-sharing-a

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Calzon Media.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Hey, everybody, welcome to it could happen here. This is
Robert Evans, and I have an episode for you. It's
also an article I wrote for our substack, Shatter Zone,
So I'm just going to get into that. Since February fifth,
twenty twenty five, a document has been circulating among democratic parties, staffers,
and liberal think tank experts warning about Curtis Jarvin and

(00:27):
the Silicon Valley led coup to end US democracy. The
document is titled the Imminent Neo Reactionary Threat to the
American Republic. It opens with a statement that the brief
was quote iteratively and collectively compiled by a broad, bipartisan
and decentralized network of experts who wish to remain anonymous
due to concerns about being targeted. The full document is here.

(00:50):
The table of contents is split into three main areas,
One the new shape of threats to the American Republic. Two,
understanding recent events and the context of threats to the
American Republic, and three a list of appendices. The title
of the actual file when I received it was evidence
Brief for journalists, and the introduction describes its aim as

(01:10):
quote explaining the nature of the current political crisis to
journalists who are attempting to inform the public. However, I
spoke with two sources who are members of these groups
and received the document. They told me that, to their knowledge,
the document was not mostly spread to journalists, but instead
among networks of think tank employees and DNC staffers, people

(01:31):
you might refer to broadly as policy wonks. One source
I interviewed explained it is a thing for think tanks
to frame overviews for laypeople as briefs for journalists or
congress see the IPCC reports. Part of me thinks the
framing four journalists is just a shortcut for this is
somewhat specialized knowledge broken down. The paper opens by acknowledging

(01:53):
the scope of the executive powergrap being perpetuated under President
Trump and that destabilization wrought by Elon Musky and his
doge team. It then notes the threat is an order
of magnitude beyond just a presidential power grab. It states
that Musk is tied to a quote broader group of
Silicon Valley tech elites, including Peter Teel and Mark Andresen.

(02:14):
Curtis Jarvin is labeled as a thought leader in this group.
Quote called the neo reactionaries. Now I'll stop here to
note that this summary is accurate enough for mass consumption,
but I have some issues with it. Musk probably would
not label himself a neo reactionary, and he doesn't have
much of a history with Jarvin. Peter Teal does, but

(02:35):
it's more a relationship of patronage than mutual influence. It
would be more accurate to say that Teal and Andreas
and find Jarvin useful because of his success and spreading
to a lot of young techie kids the idea that
tech CEOs should run the world. Musk, I feel, has
largely jumped on this bandwagon with the neo reactionaries because

(02:56):
those tech kids are useful foot soldiers. Jarvins ideas about
retiring all government employees and destroying the independent media and
academia are convenient for Musk's own ambitions. This context may
be unnecessary for explaining the overall danger of the neo
reactionaries and Musk to regular people. But I also think

(03:18):
it's a mistake to credit Jarvin with more power than
he holds. The document refers to him as the leader
of the neo reactionary movement, and I think that gets
across kind of the wrong idea about how all of
this works. That said, the document does do a pretty
good job of summing up the threat that we face quote.
The neo reactionaries have openly stated their aims to destroy

(03:40):
the nation state and the constitutional order and replace them
with a newly privately owned corporate state to be run
by a CEO dictator. Citizens become subjects owned by the
state state slaves in Yarvin's terms, because everything rots when
it has no owner. Human beings included. That last quote
is also one of Jarvin's. From here, the document argues

(04:03):
that Musk and his team are attempting to bring about
this dystopia by taking over the quote nervous system of
the state another Jarvin quote. These would be the data
and communications systems that DOSE is trying to centralize in
its unaccountable hands. Next, the authors of this document make
a call to action quote. The most dramatic reversals of

(04:23):
democratic breakdown nineteen seventy seven, India twenty twenty two, Brazil
twenty twenty three, Poland have been accomplished by radically large,
tent cross ideological coalitions with little in common accept a
desire for the continuation of a constitutional order. Evidence suggests
that the present threat to American democracy is dire enough
that such a broad tent approach focused on Musk and

(04:46):
his associates may be required, And I think this is
the most interesting and hopeful part of the whole document
for me. For one thing, I believe it does accurately
state what's needed in the present moment, a popular front
against autocracy and dictatorship. I would add to their list
of relevant examples of popular fronts the original, which is
France from nineteen thirty four to nineteen thirty eight. So

(05:09):
it's heartening to see evidence that this understanding has started
to grow within DNC policy circles in the people around them.
The source who sent me this document in the first
place described themselves as a member of quote A few
unofficial networks of climate activists who are high ranking in
the government and policy think tank circles. They noted that

(05:29):
these are normally quote very milk toast lib spaces, but
quote they're being radicalized rapidly. Both sources I interviewed for
this requested anonymity. The second person I talked to with
gave an explicit reason. They stated quote I've suspected for
a while a lot more things in dn C stuff
was compromised than people were comfortable with. In other words,

(05:51):
they believe the Republican Party has spies within the DNC,
and people they know have made statements to that effect.
They were worried that these quote GOP moles might reveal
their identity, but more so, they were worried that these
moles might have planted the document itself and put false
information inside it with the goal of provoking a reaction

(06:12):
from Democrats that would be useful politically to Republicans. I
do think this caveat is worthwhile. It's certainly not impossible,
and I think the frank admission that the DNC likely
has Republican spies inside it is also really worth stating.
But I should note that when it comes to the
actual accuracy of this document, I don't really see much

(06:32):
to take issue with. I've spent more time than most
people studying Curtis Jarvin and the neo reactionaries. I would
not describe myself as a top expert in the matter,
but I do have a good base of knowledge here,
and nothing that I've read in this document struck me
as obviously false or incorrect, nor did the overall tone
seem hysteric or unreasonable. So I asked my sources if

(06:53):
over the last month they'd seen more people talking about
Jarvin and their daily lives within sort of the circles
that they work in and around, because again, they communicate
with a lot of DNC staffers and politicians. They said, respectively, No,
and quote, that's kind of one of the odd things
to be frank, this guy Jarvin is being brought to
big events in DC. He's been referenced by Bannon Advance.

(07:16):
I have heard his talking points come from Republican mouths,
but he's largely not tracked. That concern comports with some
of fears that I had late last year about Jarvin
and the neo reactionaries. Namely, I had believed for some
time that Jarvin and the people kind of aligned with
him largely a lot of these Silicon Valley folks with

(07:36):
money had become much more influential among Trump and his
tight inner circle than was widely understood at the time. Ultimately,
I wrote and researched two episodes of Behind the Bastards
because I thought it was valuable to bring more attention
to the subject. I really had kind of a gut
feeling that this was going to become much more relevant

(07:56):
very soon, which is why I picked it as the
topic for the episode we did with Ed Helms, who's
by a pretty good margin, the biggest celebrity we've had
on the show so far, and I hope that would
help kind of get we were talking about out to
a wider audience, and it did. The episodes did very
well between YouTube and our downloads in the podcast were
probably at something like a million listens for them at

(08:18):
this point. But our listener base is a mix of
leftists and progressive liberals right their interests are not representative
of the Democratic Party at large. It is noteworthy and
perhaps even important that influential individuals in the policy space
with connections to Democratic politicians and the DNC as an organization,

(08:38):
have started a grassroots effort to spread the word about
Jarvin as a threat, and that's what this document represents.
It's even more noteworthy that this document is unsparing about
the danger and the fact that a clock is currently
ticking over all of our heads. Here's another quote. If
non governmental actors, by which we mean unelected unratified, unvetted, untrained,

(08:59):
unco strained, and or unaccountable actors gain access to key
digital infrastructure. They could seize control of critical functions of
government in ways that will be difficult or impossible to reverse.
And speaking of things that can't be reversed, my love
for our sponsors. We're back. So to continue from this document,

(09:29):
there's a section next titled national Security, and the focus
shifts from Jarvin and his neo reactionaries to Musk, who
it claims, quote poses a uniquely significant security risk. This,
in its argument, is because Musk and Doge espouse quote
anti constitutional ideologies and quote are under the influence of

(09:50):
America's principle foreign adversaries, China and Russia. It goes on
at some length about Musk's foreign business interests and how
they might compromise him. Now, I don't disagree that Musk
is compromised, but I see his actions as very much
consistent with those of a man seizing power for himself.
I do understand why people speaking to an audience that

(10:12):
is largely you know, when it's bipartisan, it's folks who
are kind of more on the centrist side of things.
In the policy space and otherwise largely a lot of
like Democratic Party employees and politicians. I understand why you
focus on the China and Russia of it all with them,
but when it comes to both accurately stating the threat
and getting a lot of people to care, I really

(10:34):
don't think that's the right strategy to take. I think
it's an issue to focus popular messaging around how this
all empowers quote America's principle foreign adversaries, because most Americans
don't really think that way or particularly care about that.
And beyond that, the larger issue is that the primary

(10:54):
adversary Musk has empowered is not, in fact the Russian
or Chinese governments. It's himself, and he personally, as an individual,
is currently a greater threat to every citizen of the
United States than any foreign government. I think that's undeniable,
and I think again it's an error not to frame
it that way. The next section of the paper lays

(11:16):
out the definition of a coup quote in essence, a
coup is a number one rapid seizure of state power
by unelected actors who acquire that power by two seizing
critical government infrastructure, and three weaponizing it to neutralize legitimate
government actors' efforts to stop them. The unelected actors then
use this power to four remake the rules of the

(11:36):
political game in a way that cannot easily be checked
or undone through democratic processes. Now it argues convincingly that
all four of these steps are underway. Now. One thing
I found compelling is the way at which this document
recognizes the threat that cryptocurrency represents right now, and how
it can and will be used by the new regime
to cement their power in ways that sidestep the present

(11:59):
legal system quote without canceling elections. For example, cryptocurrency can
be used to create informal but powerful new levers of
political influence. Politicians can sell personal coins to unknown buyers
who vote on public policy on the basis of their
shareholder power shielded from public view. I think that's a
real thing to be concerned with, and I also think

(12:21):
it's very clearly part of the goal of this project. Now,
next we have a summary of the neo Reactionary Agenda,
which lists some additional names among the Silicon Valley elde
currently championing an overthrow of democracy. These include David Sachs,
Blaji Schrinavasan and J. D. Vance. Also name dropped is
a political theorist named Nick Land, who is in fact

(12:43):
reference twice in this paper. He is quoted directly as
having said in his paper The Dark Enlightenment quote for
the hardcore neo reactionaries, democracy is not merely doomed. It
is doom itself fleeing it approaches an ultimate imperative. Land
has had a huge impact on a lot of these guys.
Although he's not really a Jarvin life figure, is in

(13:03):
He's not this kind of guy who sees himself as
or I think, really wants to be a shadowy puppet
master orchestrating the overthrow of democracy from behind the scenes.
He's really someone stating what he believes to be kind
of inevitable concepts and realities about our present historical moment
that happened to comport with a lot of the things

(13:23):
that these guys believe now. The author's next layout Jarvin's
concept of the Butterfly Revolution, which is based on an
essay he wrote in twenty twenty two in which he
laid out how a full reboot of the US government
could be accomplished. Quote Yarvin's seven part Butterfly Revolution has
been roughly summarized as follows. Number one, have Trump run
for president on the platform of getting rid of an

(13:44):
efficient system. Number two, once he wins, purge the bureaucracy, rage,
retire all government employees. Number three, ignore the courts through
declaring states of emergency. Number four, co opt Congress. Number five.
Centralized the police, federalized the National Guard, freed a national
police force that absorbs local ones. Number six. Shut down

(14:05):
the elites, the media and the universities who make up
the cathedral. Number seven. Get people on the streets whenever
there is any obstruction by a government agency. And obviously
all of that we've seen Trump and his people make
moves towards in the last couple of weeks, right, And
that's in fact what the next chunk of the document is.

(14:25):
Subsequent pages summarize the first days of the Trump administration
and DOJE activity, and they show how it comports with
the Butterfly Revolution blueprint. Now, we've all lived that in
real time, so I'm not going to summarize their arguments here.
So the document ends with a section on actions and
rhetoric to watch. Those are listed as quote government contracts

(14:47):
which fund many of Musk's companies at present, and the
next is Greenland and Mars. Quote. A core tenet of
neo reactionary ideology is the replacement of nation states with
network states, but states require territory. Technocracy, Inc, a predecessor
to the neo reactionary movement, whose one time director was
Elon Musk's grandfather, proposed a North American technatee where the

(15:10):
entire continent of North America would be united under one
technocratic super state. There is currently a peterteelbacked network state
project called Praxis in Greenland. Musk's public statements about colonizing
Mars can also be read as part of a territorial project. Lastly,
it lists crypto, which the authors primarily seem to fear,
as a method of deniably bribing Trump. Now, I think

(15:32):
most of this is pretty credible, Although I feel differently
about musk talk about colonizing Mars. I think that's been
more about pr than anything. I do think there's a
good chance he's just delusional enough to think that that's
something feasible on any kind of close end time frame,
that we start building persistent colonies on Mars. I think
the science suggests that if that ever happens, it won't

(15:55):
be anytime soon, and I think he knows that. I
think he's largely understands hype well and how to use it,
and Mars has been an easy way for him to
do that over the years. Overall, I'd say the document
is fairly thorough in its layout of the neo reactionary
ecosystem and the actual plan currently being acted to end

(16:15):
US democracy. It includes a section that lists several of
the earliest known DOGE employees, and it quotes extensively from
Jarvin and somewhat less extensively from Land. The paper's ultimate
conclusion is that Musk is using this moment to turn
himself into the kind of unitary, all powerful executive that
Jarvin longs for. This is an executive who rules alongside

(16:37):
a largely ceremonial president, as well as courts and a
legislative system that are equally ceremonial. After laying out the
bulk of the actual threat, the article promises that quote
Section three articulates what Congress and other actors can do
in order to stop this threat. However, the document in
its present form does not include any Section three or

(17:00):
any comprehensive list of solutions Congress and other actors might
carry out in order to stop the present assault on democracy.
And perhaps there's a later version of the document that
I don't have access to that includes that. Perhaps this
is just a statement that wasn't edited out, I have
to say, and heartening as I find the way in

(17:21):
which this document talks about the threat that we're facing,
and the fact that I think it's overall good that
people in positions of influence and around the DNC are
talking about this stuff. It's also kind of perfect that
at the end they're like, hey, you know, don't worry,
We've included some tips on how to defeat these guys,
and then they just don't. You know, if the situation

(17:43):
weren't so dire, it would be a lot funnier, but
unfortunately it is pretty dire. Now. If you want to
take a look at the full document itself, it's quite
a bit longer than what I've read to you now,
but it is really worth reading, especially if you have
been hearing about this Curtis Yarvin guy or the NIE
reactionaries and you kind of want to know how this
all fits together with what Musk is doing and more

(18:04):
detail if you go to my substack at Shatterzone. The
most recent article is the text of this and I
include a couple of different points links to the full
document which I have uploaded to scribed, and you can
read the whole thing if you want. It has not
been altered since I have received it. And again, yeah,
I think it's worth getting out there and spreading to

(18:26):
more people. So that's the episode. We will be back
tomorrow with something else. Until then, folks, I don't know,
keep an eye on this shit. Bye.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
It Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media.
For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
Coolzonemedia dot com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can
now find sources for it Could Happen here, listed directly
in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.