AI Summary
5 min readNaomi Klein discusses her book Doppelganger with Ezra Klein, tracing how the pandemic disrupted political alignments and created "mirror worlds"—parallel right-wing networks that liberals often ignored. Drawing from her confusion with Naomi Wolf online, Klein explores personal branding's cultural toll, unlikely political alliances, and the rise of Trumpism as a coalition of ejected figures and injured elites.
Doppelgangers and Mirror Worlds
Klein defines a doppelganger as an uncanny double, like meeting someone who mirrors you but isn't. She applies this to her experience being mistaken for Naomi Wolf, a former third-wave feminist (The Beauty Myth) turned COVID conspiracist. This led to Doppelganger, examining "mirror worlds": right-wing replicas of left-liberal spaces, from social media to publishing. People ejected from mainstream circles—via shaming or bans—land there, where facts matter less and concerns like bodily autonomy or corporate power echo but distort left narratives. Liberals, empowered in institutions, used blocks and mutes, assuming ejection erased threats. This hid the mirror world's growth, now dominant under Trump.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:28) **Episode Intro and Klein's Background** - Ezra introduces Naomi Klein's book Doppelganger and its focus on pandemic-era political realignments like Naomi Wolf allying with Steve Bannon
- 2 (03:30) **Defining Doppelganger and Mirror World** - Klein explains doppelganger as uncanny double and mirror world as distorted parallel to liberal-left reality
- 3 (05:04) **Origin of Doppelganger Interest** - Pandemic avatar confusion with Naomi Wolf sparks self-destabilization exploration and return to No Logo themes
- 4 (07:21) **No Logo Recap** - Klein's 1999 book critiques corporations outsourcing production for branding, urging individuals to self-brand
- 5 (10:25) **Naomi Wolf's Shift** - From 90s third-wave feminist (Beauty Myth, Gore advisor) to COVID conspiracist (chemtrails, vaccines, Bannon regular)
- 6 (14:57) **Wolf's Ejection Point** - 2019 Outrages book scandal (misreading "death recorded") leads to mass ridicule and reinvention
- 7 (16:52) **Entering Mirror World** - Liberals ignore Bannon/Wolf shows, missing MAGA+ coalition building (COVID moms, union men)
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Show Notes
Naomi Klein saw where our politics was headed before most people on the left. Her 2023 book “Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World” is hard to describe. But among other things, it traces the new coalitions Klein saw forming on the right, the ways they were co-opting issues long associated with the left, and finding huge audiences and influence outside existing institutions.
The people and coalitions that Klein wrote about run our world now. We are all living in the mirror world. As she put it, it’s “doppelgangers at the wheel.” So I wanted to have Klein on the show to help understand how that happened, what the left failed to see at the time and the lessons the left should take from it now.
As Klein told me: “The thing about doppelgangers is, in literature, they’re always a message telling you a warning: You have to look at yourself. There’s something about yourself that you’re not seeing.”
Note: We recorded this episode before the war in Iran.
Mentioned:
Doppelganger by Naomi Klein
No Logo by Naomi Klein
“Minnesota Proved MAGA Wrong” by Adam Serwer
End Times Fascism by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor
Book Recommendations:
Empire of AI by Karen Hao
Here Where We Live Is Our Country by Molly Crabapple
Fire Alarm by Michael Löwy
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at [email protected].
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at More from this podcast