Some on the Right have expressed the view that, if culture is downstream of politics, right-wing dominance in the political sphere will gradually lead to the adoption of conservative norms, values, and sensibilities. Michael Anton, one of the Right's most influential writers, and, until recently, an official in the State Department, argues that for conservatives to truly regain influence in popular culture, it will require more than just brute political force.
In the following interview, which has been edited for length and clarity, Anton makes the case for the Right's activists, donors, and institutions to change their mindset when it comes to influencing culture—and to manage their expectations.
Rufo: Michael Anton is one of the smartest thinkers and writers on the Right, according to both friends and detractors. He recently finished a stint in the Trump administration as the director of policy planning at the State Department. But today, Mike, I wanted to talk to you about the culture. This is something that behind the scenes you care about tremendously. You're working on a new book. You have a fiction novel in the works. What are you thinking about when you think about culture, and what are you working on right now?
Anton: Even before I was formally out of government last year, I sort of just switched over to doing a couple of books. One of them is Dispatches from the Late Republic. It's a collection of previously published essays. Not one-hundred percent non-political, but mostly non-political. Then, I had all this Machiavelli stuff—some of which had been previously published, some of which were just papers given at conferences and not previously published, and some of it that was just thoughts on the hard drive that I had to put together—and I thought, ‘It'll take a month or two,' and it turns out it took much longer than that.
So, I've just been living in the political philosophy world for several months getting that book done. When the election and presidential transition happened [in 2024], I was on the transition. As you noted, I was in the State Department, but then I came back to Texas, and I just worked basically on Machiavelli until the spring of this year. And then I started writing based on the notes that I have. I've done a couple of other research trips for that. So, it's been very pleasant.
If I walk into the kitchen and my wife has Fox News on, I turn on Turner Classic Movies. I'm just like, ‘Nope, don't care. Don't want to hear this. Like, look at that. Black and white, 1936. Yes. OK, now I'm happy.'
I am just living in a kind of little bubble. It's a pleasant little bubble.
Rufo: What have you learned about Machiavelli? What's the general thrust of the piece, and what are the big ideas that you're grappling with?
