Presidential gurus: Olavo de Carvalho, Steve Bannon, and Aleksandr Dugin and their war for eternity

Abstract

War for Eternity, by Benjamin Teitelbaum, is the account of his search for the understanding of Traditionalism, an extreme-right current of thought, through dialogues with its main current exponents. His proposal was to understand how such radical ideals, which have always been on the sidelines of public debate, have gained importance in recent years, coming to influence political leaders in several countries. For this, Teitelbaum attended events linked to Traditionalist circles and interviewed some of their representatives, giving special attention to those who became ideological gurus for the presidents of three countries: Brazil, United States and Russia, which, at the time of the reports, were commanded by Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump, and Vladimir Putin, respectively. It is an essential work to understand the most transformative political movement of the beginning of the 21st century.