The Thiel Foundation, set up in 2006, has taken an active role in disseminating Girard’s “mimetic theory”—it is one of the foundation’s three central tasks, along with the Thiel Fellowships and an incubator program for small companies. The Imitatio group within the foundation funds book series, periodicals, and conferences. Thanks to the foundation’s money, the Girardians’ reach is far. They are well connected within Stanford’s fabulously wealthy Hoover Institution. More recently, the Imitatio crew provided intellectual cover and manpower for Donald Trump’s transition team—suddenly, people you’d see around Stanford’s campus trying to put together panels to discuss Girard’s work seemed to be taking up offices in Trump Tower. A strange trajectory for any academic theory, let alone one in the humanities.