The Opportunists

The first biography of the new generation of thinkers shaping the next era of right wing politics, in the U.S. and beyond

Since 2016, the spectacle of Trump has overshadowed the emergence of an equally serious threat to our democracy: a small but influential group of “post-liberal” intellectuals (as they style themselves) who have become key influencers of the New Right.

Taking a ground-breaking deep dive into the world of post-liberalism, The Opportunists immerses the reader in this simmering ideological stew. Historian Hannah Gurman combines intellectual biography and political history, offering incisive profiles of key thinkers including Patrick Deneen, Adrian Vermeule, Yoram Hazony, Erika Bachiochi, Mary Harrington, Oren Cass, and Sohrab Ahmari. These figures have played a crucial role in legitimizing Trumpism beyond the MAGA base, providing intellectual fuel for the next generation of right-wing leaders who embrace such varied—and poorly understood—intellectual strains as Catholic integralism, neoconservative Zionism, reactionary feminism, and “pro-worker” conservatism. These ideas, and their proponents, are poised to determine the course of America’s future, driving the creation of new think tanks and media outlets, rebranding the agendas of existing conservative organizations, and dramatically reshaping reactionary politics in the United States and beyond.

We ignore the post-liberals, Gurman argues, at our own peril. The Opportunists is a major effort to expose the new ideas shaping our perilous world—and a first step in understanding how to combat them.