Jonathan Chait recently criticized a 2018 essay I wrote about “reactionary centrism," a term that's picked up some steam over the years from journalists like Michael Hobbes and history professor Thomas Zimmer. Below, I've quoted some relevant passages from Chait's essay and some brief responses. Huertas defined
Reactionary Philosophy In An Enormous, Planet-Sized Nutshell
I have heard the following from a bunch of people, one of whom was me six months ago: “I keep on reading all these posts by really smart people who identify as Reactionaries, and I don’…
The Anti-Reactionary FAQ
[Edit 3/2014: I no longer endorse all the statements in this document. I think many of the conclusions are still correct, but especially section 1 is weaker than it should be, and many reactionarie…
We Need to Talk About Reactionary Centrists
Sympathizing with the right while punching left is not the neutral position pundits seem to think it is
We Need to Talk About Reactionary Centrists
Sympathizing with the right while punching left is not the neutral position pundits seem to think it is
Political Fairytale
Why is centrism failing so badly? Because at its heart is a mistaken idea of how politics works.
The Climate of History in a Planetary Age
For the past decade, historian Dipesh Chakrabarty has been one of the most influential scholars addressing the meaning of climate change. Climate change, he argues, upends long-standing ideas of history, modernity, and globalization. The burden of The Climate of History in a Planetary Age is to grapple with what this means and to confront humanities scholars with ideas they have been reluctant to reconsider—from the changed nature of human agency to a new acceptance of universals. Chakrabarty argues that we must see ourselves from two perspectives at once: the planetary and the global. This distinction is central to Chakrabarty’s work—the globe is a human-centric construction, while a planetary perspective intentionally decenters the human. Featuring wide-ranging excursions into historical and philosophical literatures, The Climate of History in a Planetary Age boldly considers how to frame the human condition in troubled times. As we open ourselves to the implications of the Anthropocene, few writers are as likely as Chakrabarty to shape our understanding of the best way forward.
Editor's Notes: Reactionaries Are Not Fun Weirdos
One wonders why Richard Hanania has gotten so much attention.
Becca Lewis - Reactionary Futurism - 2025/2027 Rogers Chair Series
Centrist imaginations
A response to a bad article, a bad book, and a bad publication
A Historical Reference of React Criticism—zachleat.com
There have been a number of criticisms levied at the React project over the years, some of them handled and some of them still wavering in the wind. In this…
Curtis Yarvin: An Extremist Walks into a Sauna
Curtis Yarvin is the court philosopher for the reactionary right in the US. He recently met with leading intellectuals at a luxury hotel in the Alps. How did he fare?
Les motifs de la confiance (et de la défiance ) politique : intérêt, connaissance et conviction dans les formes du raisonnement politique
Le rapport de confiance ou de défiance unissant les citoyens à la politique se nourrit d’une variété de facteurs relatifs à la position sociale des citoyens, à la mise en cause de leurs intérêts par les politiques publiques comme à leur perception normative de l’univers politiques. En se fondant sur un matériel qualitatif composé de groupes de discussion réunissant des citoyens français faiblement politisés, cette contribution vise à cerner les motifs argumentatifs de la confiance et de la défiance politique. Leurs propos expriment un rapport au politique construit de façon endogène, à dimension fortement normative et manifestant une capacité argumentative fondée sur différents types de principes.
Daniel Trilling | Masks Off
The emergence of Patriot Platform is not necessarily a sign that the far right is getting its way. Radical right-wing...
Tech's right turn : the rise of reactionary politics in Silicon Valley and online
This dissertation shows how a group of conservative activists helped shape Silicon Valley and its digital technologies in the 1980s and 1990s. Operating primarily within a loose network of think ta...
Pluralistic: Post-political (09 Jul 2026) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow
There's plenty of reasons to be skeptical of centrists who bemoan "political polarization" and call for a politics that abandons the "tribalism of left and right."