Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other Michael Anton (born 1969) is an American conservative essayist, speechwriter and former private-equity executive who is currently the director of policy planning in the second Trump administration since January 2025.

[18] Anton is considered to be a notable West Coast Straussian, as a student of Leo Strauss by way of tutor Harry V. Jaffa,[19] and he specializes in the study of Niccolò Machiavelli.

[20] Anton has derided American diversity in his writing, arguing in a pseudonymous March 2016 essay that "'Diversity' is not 'our strength'; it's a source of weakness, tension and disunion.

[31] Lozada wrote, "Anton spends virtually no time detailing or defending particular policies of the Trump administration; all that matters is the enemy.

[37] The widely shared article was called a tipping point in spreading the false claim, which was further popularized by The Federalist, DJHJ Media and Dan Bongino.

After resigning from the National Security Council in 2018, he came back to the White House for a day to work as a line cook in the kitchen, helping prepare a state dinner for President Emmanuel Macron of France.

[39] He is also an aesthete with a penchant for tailoring and classic menswear, having authored a short book and over 40,000 posts on internet bulletin board Styleforum.net on the subject.

[40][41] Under the pseudonym "Nicholas Antongiavanni", Anton wrote The Suit, a 2006 men's fashion guide book, which is a parody of Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince.