Without modesty, Curtis Yarvin presents himself as a modern-day Aristotle. The 51-year-old blogger, software engineer and "Dark Enlightenment" prophet was described in interviews with The New York Times on January 18 and Le Grand Continent journal on April 5, as someone who has the ear of billionaire Elon Musk, US Vice President JD Vance and several advisors within the Trump administration. Yet, unlike the Greek philosopher, the American blogger is not a doubter. He has decried the failure of democracies, regimes that he claims are plagued by inefficiency, and has called for the establishment of a sort of "monarchy" led by a "CEO," which he described as an "American Caesar."
Yarvin may be a fringe ideologue, but his ideas echo an idea that has been gaining traction here and there in the West: that the state is an impotent body. In France, this belief coincides with increasing levels of trust in companies, whose roles in matters of employment, citizens' purchasing power, ecology and fighting discrimination have increasingly come to be seen as political. "The French feel defenseless. Less than half believe that the president has the means to change their lives, whereas 52% believe in businesses' ability to act," said Bernard Sananès, president of the Elabe polling institute, citing a November 2024 study conducted with a sample of 10,000 people. "Ah, if only France were run like a business," the CEO of a top French company once said to a key figure in Emmanuel Macron's camp, imagining how he would use his corporate methods to reduce the public deficit.
Indeed, the French political landscape currently seems ripe for a major business leader to step onto the national stage. Voters have become weary of their leaders. Far-right party leader Marine Le Pen, whom pollsters had tipped as the favorite to win the upcoming 2027 presidential election, might now not be able to run due to her conviction for embezzlement of public funds. "In the past, the parties had locked up the system; now, they have collapsed," said essayist Alain Minc. Macron's unexpected rise to the highest level of power in 2017 has inspired the most ambitious thinkers.
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