Know Your Enemy22 Touko 2025

Trump as Messianic Prophet (w/ Manvir Singh) [TEASER]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemy.

In a recent New Yorker essay, our guest, UC Davis anthropologist Manvir Singh, argues, "The Trumpian mystique echoes a dynamic that has occurred for centuries and across cultures. Its core ingredients—an alleged league of pedophiles, a godlike miracle worker, promises of an Edenic restoration—resemble archetypes that have long occupied humanity’s imagination. Trump’s followers may communicate through memes and message boards, but their faith belongs to a much older mythology: the eternal face-off between shaman and witch, prophet and cabal."

In this conversation, Manvir, the author of a new book on "Shamanism," compellingly demonstrates how the MAGA movement — especially in its QAnon-inflected guises — manifests archetypal features of the messianic cult, analogues for which can be found across cultures and historical epochs. On KYE, we haven't often indulged in this sort of critique, for (justifiable) fear of eliding the very specific political conditions that gave rise to Trumpism, but for today: we're going for it! And Manvir was an ideal (and suitably careful) guide to this methodology and way of thinking about our political conjecture.

Further Reading:

Manvir Singh, "The President Who Became a Prophet," The New Yorker, May 17, 2025.

— "How Much Does Our Language Shape Our Thinking?" The New Yorker, Dec 23, 2025.

— "Don’t Believe What They’re Telling You About Misinformation," The New Yorker, April 15, 2024.

— Shamanism: The Timeless Religion, (May 2025)

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(266)

Becoming Elon Musk, Part One

If there's ever been a Know Your Enemy subject worthy of two episodes, it is Elon Musk—currently the world's richest man, CEO and leader of several pathbreaking companies, ringleader of the Department...

17 Maalis 20251h 22min

"Exit From Within" (August 2022)

Here's something a little creepy. In a bonus episode from August 2022, Matt and Sam were discussing Sam's profile of Arizona Senate hopeful and Peter Thiel-protégé Blake Masters when we found ourselve...

5 Maalis 202520min

How Bad Is It? [TEASER]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemyJust over a month into Trump's second term, Matt and Sam offer their thoughts on where we're at—and, to be blunt, ...

24 Helmi 20254min

Pay Attention! (w/ Chris Hayes)

We're all anxious, and none of us can pay attention. We don't read long books anymore; our kids don't read at all. When we watch TV, we scroll at the same time. And we absolutely cannot be alone with ...

18 Helmi 20251h 1min

MAGA x DOGE, So Far (w/ John Ganz) [TEASER]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemyThe first three weeks of Donald Trump's second administration have seen a flurry of vicious executive orders aimed...

8 Helmi 20252min

Ayn Rand Against the World (w/ Jennifer Burns)

An atheist, a radical for capitalism, a caricature of a greedy libertarian, a best-selling novelist, a difficult partner and passionate lover, and the self-proclaimed greatest philosopher since Aristo...

3 Helmi 20252h

How Republics End (w/ Mike Duncan) [TEASER]

Listen to the rest of this premium episode by subscribing at patreon.com/knowyourenemyA stock rhetorical trope on the right is to invoke ancient Rome when talking about American decline—often making d...

28 Tammi 20252min

The Entrepreneurial Ethic & How We Work Today (w/ Erik Baker)

This is a fascinating episode that takes up thinkers that the podcast has covered before—the Koch brothers, Austrian economists like Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, and others—but from a differe...

21 Tammi 20251h 36min