A Major Escalation: Tucker, Dugin, and the Normalization of New Fascism
I've been studying the Right Wing's normalization of authoritarianism for years, and even I was surprised when I saw this
Dispatches From A Collapsing State is an independent media venture. My work does not fit comfortably with mainstream media platforms, so if you appreciate it, please subscribe today. You’ll gain access to all articles, including exlusive features like this recent Q&A mailbag where I answer questions from my readers.
When I wrote The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis, one of my goals was to understand the Right Wing authoritarian movement that was gaining power in the United States and around the world. I had spent years observing the followers, lurking in their forums and channels, reading their materials, watching their discussions and videos. I knew they wanted to create a nationalist ethnostate that concentrated power in the hands of a select group of white elites and use religion, misogyny, xenophobia, and homophobia as levers to control the political situation and population. What I didn’t yet understand was how exactly this movement mirrored past authoritarian ideologies or where it originated from.
The title of the book originated from a quote from Aleksandr Dugin, who likened liberal democracy to a “midnight kingdom” that was seconds away from crumbling. His phrasing and ideology were borrowed from Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher who threw in his lot with the Nazis, who believed order would be restored to a chaotic world following “the midnight of history,” or the darkest moment of being.
I spent way too much time reading Dugin’s work. It seemed important considering the Right Wing was marinating in its poison. His ideology had already come to hold heavy, heavy sway over Vladimir Putin, influencing not only his worldview but strategic planning, including the invasion of Ukraine. The authoritarian Right in the United States, and throughout the so-called “Western democracies,” relied on Dugin as a foundation. Everyone from Steve Bannon to the lowliest Neo-Nazi on 8chan had zeroed in on Dugin and used his work as the core to build their worldview around.
So, imagine how it felt on Monday when I saw Tucker Carlson had published an interview with Aleksandr Dugin.
You can find that video here. While I don’t want to give Tucker or this monster views, I will say that this is an important piece of material to engage with. You need to see this, experience it, remember it.
I don’t want to sugarcoat this. Tucker Carlson, one of the most influential figures in the New Right, used his massive platform on Twitter to introduce millions of people to arguably the most dangerous and insidious ideologue on the planet. It is the equivalent of hosting Carl Schmitt in 1933 and promoting the concept of the führer state. I would argue that this is even worse than his meandering and embarassing attempt to interview Vladimir Putin. At least you could justify that as an interview with a head of state and it spectacularly blew up in Carlson’s face.
There is no rationalization for Tucker platforming Dugin like this. The only reason was to ensure that any of the casual fans watching Tucker’s content would immediately dive into Dugin’s neo-fascist philosophy and become more and more radicalized.