{"id":2177,"date":"2026-08-11T08:26:53","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=2177"},"modified":"2026-08-11T08:26:53","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T08:26:53","slug":"chud-of-the-rings-with-bret-devereaux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/?p=2177","title":{"rendered":"Chud of the Rings\u2014With Bret Devereaux"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div xmlns:default=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" id=\"post-606556\" data-post=\"606556\">\n<section class=\"wp-block-group blocks-wrapper type-standard-article is-layout-flow wp-block-group-is-layout-flow\">\n<aside aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"ad-block ad siderail-ad float-r-w-3 break-r-4\">\n<p>                    <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thenation.com\/advertising-policy\" class=\"ad-policy\" target=\"_blank\">Ad Policy<\/a><br \/>\n                <\/aside>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/GettyImages-1245441031.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"907\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-606609\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1-275x173.jpg 275w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1-768x484.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1-810x510.jpg 810w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1-340x215.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1-168x106.jpg 168w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1-382x240.jpg 382w, https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-2284934088-1-793x500.jpg 793w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">\n<p>Peter Thiel, president and founder of Clarium Capital Management LLC, during the Allen &amp; Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 10, 2026.  <\/p>\n<p><span class=\"credits\">(David Paul Morris \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\">We all love making fun of fascists. But Dr. Bret Devereaux makes an art of it. Bret is a historian of antiquity and a Tolkien scholar, and he doesn\u2019t suffer fools. He\u2019s been going at it with the world of online chud \u201chistorians\u201d\u2014the fascists who say they\u2019re fighting to defend \u201cWestern Civilization,\u201d something they\u2019ve never bothered to actually try to understand. And he has similarly choice words for the far-right billionaire freaks who idolize, and utterly misunderstand, <em>The Lord of the Rings<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>This is a genuinely delightful conversation for nerds like us. But it\u2019s also a serious look into the ways the far right misuses history and literature to advance their fucked-up worldviews\u2014and how we can fight back.<\/p>\n<p>Check out Bret\u2019s <em>wonderful<\/em> blog, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/acoup.blog\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>Subscribe to <\/em>The Nation <em>to support all of our podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/thenation.com\/podcastsubscribe\">thenation.com\/subscribe<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<section id=\"accordion-block_db7ca87c49000e669ea7fb9b1c8f8f90\" class=\"accordion\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"accordion__toggle\">\n            <button type=\"button\" id=\"accordionToggle\" aria-controls=\"accordionContent\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><br \/>\n                <span class=\"opentxt\">Read the transcription<\/span><br \/>\n                <span class=\"closetxt\" style=\"display: none;\">Close transcription<\/span><br \/>\n                <default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" aria-hidden=\"true\" width=\"34\" height=\"34\" viewbox=\"0 0 34 34\" fill=\"none\"><br \/>\n                    <default:line x1=\"2.55078\" y1=\"16.5498\" x2=\"32.5508\" y2=\"16.5498\" stroke=\"#E3DED8\" stroke-width=\"2\"\/><br \/>\n                    <default:line class=\"plus-line\" y1=\"-1\" x2=\"30\" y2=\"-1\" transform=\"matrix(-1.18011e-06 -1 -1 1.18011e-06 16.6914 31.6924)\" stroke=\"#E3DED8\" stroke-width=\"2\"\/><br \/>\n                <\/default:svg><br \/>\n            <\/button><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div id=\"cta-block_c08b1a77af3a295aa5b70cc4e81a865f\" class=\"cta\">\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"cta__container\">\n<div class=\"cta__inline\">\n<p><h2 class=\"cta__title\">Subscribe to The Nation to Support all of our podcasts<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"blocks-wrapper is-standard-article is-layout-flow\">\n<div id=\"article-end-\" class=\"article-end \">\n<div class=\"article-end__authors\">\n<div class=\"article-end__author\">\n<h5 class=\"article-end__author-name\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/matt-dasilva\/\">Matt DaSilva<\/a><br \/>\n                    <\/h5>\n<div class=\"article-end__author-bio\">\n<p>Matt DaSilva is a co-host of the\u00a0<em>Fighting Fascism<\/em> podcast.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-end__author\">\n<h5 class=\"article-end__author-name\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/jonathan-smucker\/\">Jonathan Smucker<\/a><br \/>\n                    <\/h5>\n<p>                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jonathansmucker\" class=\"article-end__author-twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"17\" height=\"14\" viewbox=\"0 0 17 14\" fill=\"none\"><br \/>\n\t<default:path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M15.2054 3.54558C15.2122 3.6951 15.215 3.84463 15.215 3.99527C15.215 8.58792 11.7194 13.8834 5.32683 13.8834C3.36455 13.8834 1.53779 13.3083 0 12.3221C0.271606 12.354 0.548252 12.3702 0.828257 12.3702C2.45677 12.3702 3.95536 11.8147 5.14483 10.8829C3.62384 10.8543 2.34085 9.84963 1.89844 8.4692C2.11068 8.51008 2.32797 8.53136 2.55253 8.53136C2.87006 8.53136 3.17695 8.48936 3.46815 8.40984C1.87772 8.09008 0.680414 6.68501 0.680414 5.00273C0.680414 4.98705 0.680414 4.97305 0.680414 4.95793C1.14858 5.21833 1.68452 5.37514 2.25461 5.39362C1.32219 4.76921 0.708415 3.7063 0.708415 2.5006C0.708415 1.8633 0.879778 1.26633 1.17882 0.753361C2.89302 2.85621 5.45395 4.23887 8.34249 4.38392C8.28313 4.12967 8.25233 3.86423 8.25233 3.59206C8.25233 1.6729 9.80861 0.117188 11.7278 0.117188C12.7274 0.117188 13.6301 0.539436 14.2641 1.21425C15.0559 1.05913 15.8002 0.769041 16.4716 0.370873C16.2118 1.18289 15.6602 1.86386 14.9428 2.29395C15.6462 2.20939 16.3159 2.02235 16.9392 1.74626C16.4739 2.44292 15.8842 3.05557 15.2054 3.54558Z\" fill=\"#666666\"\/><br \/>\n<\/default:svg><br \/>\n                        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-end__author-bio\">\n<p>Jonathan Smucker is cofounder and executive director of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.popularcomms.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Popular Comms<\/a>, a cofounder of Pennsylvania Stands Up, and the author of <em>Hegemony How-To: A Roadmap for Radicals<\/em>. He has worked for over 25 years as a political organizer, campaigner, and strategist, and has trained thousands of organizers and social movement participants.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-end__author\">\n<h5 class=\"article-end__author-name\">\n                        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/authors\/aaron-regunberg\/\">Aaron Regunberg<\/a><br \/>\n                    <\/h5>\n<p>                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AaronRegunberg\" class=\"article-end__author-twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><br \/>\n                            <default:svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"17\" height=\"14\" viewbox=\"0 0 17 14\" fill=\"none\"><br \/>\n\t<default:path fill-rule=\"evenodd\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M15.2054 3.54558C15.2122 3.6951 15.215 3.84463 15.215 3.99527C15.215 8.58792 11.7194 13.8834 5.32683 13.8834C3.36455 13.8834 1.53779 13.3083 0 12.3221C0.271606 12.354 0.548252 12.3702 0.828257 12.3702C2.45677 12.3702 3.95536 11.8147 5.14483 10.8829C3.62384 10.8543 2.34085 9.84963 1.89844 8.4692C2.11068 8.51008 2.32797 8.53136 2.55253 8.53136C2.87006 8.53136 3.17695 8.48936 3.46815 8.40984C1.87772 8.09008 0.680414 6.68501 0.680414 5.00273C0.680414 4.98705 0.680414 4.97305 0.680414 4.95793C1.14858 5.21833 1.68452 5.37514 2.25461 5.39362C1.32219 4.76921 0.708415 3.7063 0.708415 2.5006C0.708415 1.8633 0.879778 1.26633 1.17882 0.753361C2.89302 2.85621 5.45395 4.23887 8.34249 4.38392C8.28313 4.12967 8.25233 3.86423 8.25233 3.59206C8.25233 1.6729 9.80861 0.117188 11.7278 0.117188C12.7274 0.117188 13.6301 0.539436 14.2641 1.21425C15.0559 1.05913 15.8002 0.769041 16.4716 0.370873C16.2118 1.18289 15.6602 1.86386 14.9428 2.29395C15.6462 2.20939 16.3159 2.02235 16.9392 1.74626C16.4739 2.44292 15.8842 3.05557 15.2054 3.54558Z\" fill=\"#666666\"\/><br \/>\n<\/default:svg><br \/>\n                        <\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-end__author-bio\">\n<p>Aaron Regunberg is a climate lawyer, a contributing editor at <em>The New Republic<\/em>, and a former Rhode Island state representative.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script type=\"5416e432924def334c29bebe-text\/javascript\">\n\t\t!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n\t\t{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n\t\tn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n\t\tif(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n\t\tn.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n\t\tt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n\t\ts.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,document,'script', 'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n\t\tfbq('init', '233793277040432');\n\t\tfbq('track', 'PageView');\n\t\t\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ad Policy Peter Thiel, president and founder of Clarium Capital Management LLC, during the Allen &amp; Co. Media and Technology Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, on July 10, 2026. (David Paul Morris \/ Bloomberg via Getty Images) We all love making fun of fascists. But Dr. Bret Devereaux makes an art of it. Bret is&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[4059,4057,4060,4058],"class_list":["post-2177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bret","tag-chud","tag-devereaux","tag-ringswith"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valutednews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}