The Kremlin's Playbook: How Alexander Dugin's Geopolitical Fantasies Became Trump's Foreign and Domestic Policy

In 1998, I read a book.

In 1997, Russian political philosopher and full-time Rasputin cosplayer Alexander Dugin published Foundations of Geopolitics: The Geopolitical Future of Russia. It was a thick slab of paranoid fantasy, geopolitical cosplay, and just enough actual strategy to make it dangerous. While the West was busy doing keg stands on globalism, Russia was quietly digesting Dugin’s call for the U.S. to eat itself from the inside out.

And spoiler alert: we’re halfway through the meal.

Dugin’s grand vision calls for non-military conquest through manipulation, disinformation, and psychological warfare. His "greatest hits" include:

Undermining U.S. influence globally (especially in Eurasia, Russia’s favorite playground);
Fomenting internal divisions like race, religion, and partisan idiocy;
Pushing American isolationism hard enough to make Ron Paul blush;
Backing separatist and nationalist movements in Europe (while pretending not to meddle);
And weaponizing disinformation like it’s the 21st century's hottest export.

It’s not tanks and troops…it’s chaos with plausible deniability.

Dugin’s Dream Becomes Russia’s Foreign Policy

You don’t have to squint hard to see how the Kremlin has turned Dugin’s playbook into a political religion. From Brexit to AfD in Germany to France’s love affair with Marine Le Pen, Russia has been the shady guy in the trench coat whispering sweet nothings into the ears of Western discontents.

As confirmed by the European Parliament and intelligence communities, Russia’s meddling in Europe didn’t stop at memes. It involved money, media manipulation, and enough bots to make Elon Musk nervous (Politico, European Parliament Report, 2019).

But the real prize? America.

Trumpism as Duginism: When the Villain Monologue Becomes Policy

Let’s line up the receipts.

1. Global Influence Reduction

Trade Tariffs on Allies: Trump slapped tariffs on Canada, Mexico, the EU—basically anyone who didn’t compliment his tie. This pushed our allies to look elsewhere, which conveniently weakens U.S. influence and props up China and Russia. Yay, multipolarity. (Brookings)
Bailing on International Agreements: Trump exited the Paris Climate Accord, UNESCO, the UN Human Rights Council, and WHO, because if you can’t play well with others, just flip the board. (Council on Foreign Relations)
Sabotaging NATO: Threatening to ghost NATO unless everyone ponied up lunch money for defense? Classic Dugin chaos. (Foreign Policy)

2. Internal Destabilization

Press = Enemy of the People: Trump’s war on the media didn’t just echo authoritarian regimes…it harmonized in three-part chorus.
Race-Baiting and DEI Attacks: Muslim bans, Charlottesville excuses, and gutting diversity programs didn’t unify anyone. But they sure made Twitter explode. (SPLC)
Undermining Elections: Trump’s 2020 tantrum, followed by a reality-TV-style insurrection on January 6, was straight from the Kremlin's "How to Tank a Democracy Without Firing a Shot" manual. (Jan. 6 Report)

3. Promoting Isolationism

“America First” sounded patriotic until you realized it really meant "America Alone." Abandoning global leadership gave adversaries a blank check to move in. (The Atlantic)

4. Cheering on European Breakups

Brexit: Russian state media, troll farms, and shady Twitter bots all pushed the UK toward jumping out of the EU without a parachute. (The Guardian)
France and Germany: Moscow bankrolled Marine Le Pen’s campaigns and boosted the AfD in Germany, all while pretending they don’t speak any French or German. (DW, Le Monde)

Curtis Yarvin: Dugin’s American Pen Pal from Hell

You have read that name before on this here snarky Substack. Remember this asshole?

While Dugin wants to destroy liberal democracy from Moscow, Curtis Yarvin (aka Mencius Moldbug) wants to burn it down from Silicon Valley. His vibe? Less czar, more startup CEO…but with absolute power.

Yarvin calls democracy a failed experiment and wants to replace it with a king-like CEO figure who rules efficiently by decree. Basically, he wants to take your least favorite Twitter billionaire and hand him the nuclear codes.

And wouldn’t you know it? His dream king looks an awful lot like Donald Trump.

Yarvin’s ideas have found fertile ground in Trumpworld. He’s influenced J.D. Vance, Peter Thiel, and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a plan to replace civil servants with loyalist lackeys and hand the president an autocracy starter pack. (The Verge)

So while Dugin wants to kneecap America geopolitically, Yarvin wants to gut it ideologically. And in Trump, both found the perfect demolition contractor.

Conclusion: Dugin’s Dream, Made in America

This is not a coincidence. It’s a convergence.

Dugin’s strategy of isolation, division, and decay is no longer theoretical—it’s been beta tested. Trump’s presidency, aided by far-right ideologues at home and disinformation campaigns abroad, has become the closest real-world execution of Dugin's vision.

Not by accident. Not through ignorance. But through a perfect storm of authoritarian ambition, intellectual radicalism, and foreign manipulation.

America isn’t just stumbling into decline. It’s being ushered there, one executive order, culture war, and cable news segment at a time.

This isn’t the fall of Rome. This is the rise of something worse…with Wi-Fi.