Color drawing of smiling dog leaning on the letters "DOGE," with American flags, and with words "Department of Government Efficiency" arching above.

The DOGE and the neoreactionaries

Matthew N Lyons

While MAGA movement ideology centers on right-wing populism, DOGE’s attack on the administrative state is guided by neoreactionaries, whose ideology glorifies elites and rejects populist appeals in principle. And while the first Trump administration was backed by an unstable coalition of competing capitalist interests, now high technology capitalists closely aligned with neoreactionary politics are at the head of the pro-Trump business bloc. These changes have helped make the second Trump presidency more dangerous than the first, but they also point to potential divisions and conflicts within the Trump coalition.

Antifascist, business and politics, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, neoreaction, tech capitalists


Not Quite “Ordinary Human Beings”—Anti-Imperialism and the anti-humanist rhetoric of Gilad Atzmon

[This statement has been moved to a separate page on the Three Way Fight website at http://threewayfight.blogspot.com/p/atzmon-critique_09.html.]

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Between Pro-Fascism and Left-Populism: Reading Loren Goldner on the Bolivian MNR

Three Way Fight

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I recently read Loren Goldner’s 2011 article on Bolivia’s Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) and I think it has a lot to offer for ThreeWayFight readers. The title is a mouthful: “Anti-Capitalism or Anti-Imperialism? Interwar Authoritarian …

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Anti-capitalist perspectives on the Occupy movement

Three Way Fight

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The January issue of Insurgent Notes, an online left-communist journal, is devoted mainly to the Occupy movement, with a lead editorial, reports from Occupy campaigns in six U.S. cities, and an article on “class struggle …

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Conservatism studies: on the value and limits of academic history

Three Way Fight

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Not so long ago, respected historians and sociologists promoted the idea that right-wing politics was best understood as a kind of psychological problem: a form of collective irrationality, an expression of despair or a paranoid …

conservatism

Stand up Against Racism and Transphobia!

Three Way Fight

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From the First of May Anarchist Alliance: Defend CeCe McDonald!Self-Defense is Not a Crime!Stand up Against Racism and Transphobia! An important case demands our support. Crishaun “CeCe” McDonald, a young Black transgender woman faces two …

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Occupy movement: Anti-capitalism versus populism

Three Way Fight

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Occupy Wall Street is one of the most exciting political developments in years, but like any social movement it has its contradictions. As I noted briefly at the end of my previous post, the Occupy …

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Notes on Trump/MAGA 2024

Matthew N Lyons

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Even more than in the past, Trump and the MAGA movement have brought key elements of fascist politics into the Republican Party, and a second Trump presidency is likely to be significantly more authoritarian than the first one.

Antifascist, Donald Trump, MAGA movement, US presidential elections

Who’s Afraid of Luigi Mangione? A Response to Alexander Reid Ross

3WF

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Luigi Mangione’s recent alleged killing of an insurance CEO touched a wedge issue that cuts across class and across the political spectrum—the massive corruption of the health insurance industry—and created an opening for the left. A recent article by ex-leftist Alexander Reid Ross, which dismisses Mangione as expressing an American proclivity for violence, represents a counterinsurgency action in defense of the state.

Alexander Reid Ross, Anti-capitalism, counter insurgency, health care, health insurance industry, liberal antifascism, Luigi Mangione

Reading Adam Shatz on the war in Gaza

Three Way Fight

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by Matthew N. Lyons How do we forcefully make the case to defend the Palestinian people in Gaza against Israel’s increasingly genocidal assault, and also honor the conflict’s heartbreaking contradictions? This is a question I’ve …

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Burn the foundation and all that it upholds: an antifascist review of “Tell Me I’m Worthless” by Alison Rumfitt

Three Way Fight

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“The House spreads. Its arteries run throughout the country. Its lifeblood flows into Westminster, into Scotland Yard, into every village and every city. It flows into you, and into your mother. It keeps you alive. …

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Review of “Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism”

3WF

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Shane Burley and Ben Lorber offer a thoughtful radical analysis of how antisemitism works, how it fuels supremacist politics more broadly, and how the charge of antisemitism is misused to attack Palestine solidarity and the left. To combat antisemitism they argue for a strategy based on mass mobilization, dialog, and an intersectional critique of oppressions.

Anti-Zionist, Antifascist, antisemitism, Israel


Books

Scroll to see more and click on a book for more information about it and where to buy it.

Between the Abysmal and the Catastrophic: Interview About the Presidential Election

Between the Abysmal and the Catastrophic: Interview About the Presidential Election

The podcast Last Born in the Wilderness interviewed me on the 2024 US presidential election. The interview covers some of the same ground as my previous Three Way Fight essay, “Notes on Trump/MAGA 2024.”
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Notes on Trump/MAGA 2024

Notes on Trump/MAGA 2024

Even more than in the past, Trump and the MAGA movement have brought key elements of fascist politics into the Republican Party, and a second Trump presidency is likely to be significantly more authoritarian than the first one.
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Retraction

We the editors of Three Way Fight have retracted the essay “Camus and Algeria: A Short Retrospective,” by Kristian Williams, which we published on October 15, 2024. Publication of this essay was improper in light

“Imperialism as a whole is the enemy of humanity, not particular countries”: Reading Michael Karadjis on the Middle East

“Imperialism as a whole is the enemy of humanity, not particular countries”: Reading Michael Karadjis on the Middle East

To help us understand the dynamics of power and conflict in the Middle East from a radical standpoint, Three Way Fight looks at a website that starkly assesses the Israeli government’s genocidal goals while debunking anti-imperialist illusions about Iran and the so-called Axis of Resistance.
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Anti-Fascism and the Three Way Fight in Québec

Anti-Fascism and the Three Way Fight in Québec

The ideas advanced in the book Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism offer a useful set of tools to examine developments in Québec’s far right and antifascist movement over the past seven years.
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Three Way Fight virtual book event August 5th

Three Way Fight virtual book event August 5th

Book co-editors Xtn Alexander and Matthew N. Lyons will discuss Three Way Fight: Revolutionary Politics and Antifascism in an online event sponsored by Firestorm Books. “Three way fight” refers to a political approach, a political project, and a book, and the presentation will give an overview of all three.

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The DOGE and the neoreactionaries

While MAGA movement ideology centers on right-wing populism, DOGE’s attack on the administrative state is guided by neoreactionaries, whose ideology glorifies elites and rejects populist appeals in principle. And while the first Trump administration was backed by an unstable coalition of competing capitalist interests, now high technology capitalists closely aligned with neoreactionary politics are at the head of the pro-Trump business bloc. These changes have helped make the second Trump presidency more dangerous than the first, but they also point to potential divisions and conflicts within the Trump coalition.

Chaos or Revolution? It Depends on Us

The institutional far right is strong, while the far left is weak and disorganized. To develop the capacity to meaningfully intervene in the current crisis, far leftists need to engage with oppressed communities and work together with liberals in a united front.

Review of Alberto Toscano’s “Late Fascism”

Alberto Toscano’s book offers a helpful overview of antifascist writings with an emphasis on authors loosely associated with Critical Theory. Of particular value is Toscano’s discussion of the role of myth in fascist ideology, which focuses on contributions by Italian scholar Furio Jesi and has relevance for understanding Donald Trump’s speeches and far right online meme culture. Yet Toscano’s discussion of “racial fascism” exaggerates capitalists’ ability to control events, strips both fascists and antifascists of political agency, and reflects an obliviousness to antifascists’ strategic and tactical concerns.

Review of “Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism”

Shane Burley and Ben Lorber offer a thoughtful radical analysis of how antisemitism works, how it fuels supremacist politics more broadly, and how the charge of antisemitism is misused to attack Palestine solidarity and the left. To combat antisemitism they argue for a strategy based on mass mobilization, dialog, and an intersectional critique of oppressions.

Who’s Afraid of Luigi Mangione? A Response to Alexander Reid Ross

Luigi Mangione’s recent alleged killing of an insurance CEO touched a wedge issue that cuts across class and across the political spectrum—the massive corruption of the health insurance industry—and created an opening for the left. A recent article by ex-leftist Alexander Reid Ross, which dismisses Mangione as expressing an American proclivity for violence, represents a counterinsurgency action in defense of the state.