Ayn Rand v Donald Trump? – Daily Kos

The clumsy cry of despair in the novel Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Love her or hate her, Ayn Rand was a far greater intellectual than Donald Trump. She actually studied the works of philosphers Arisotole, Locke, Kant, and Nietsche and and although the ultimate value of her pop philosophy fell far short of her own claims about it, she deserves mention in the context of todays culture war.

Was Ayn Rand a necessary pre-cursor to the rise of Authoritarianism in twenty-first century America? I think the answer must be yes even though, as a champion of individual freedoms, she would vehemently disagree. (Hint #1: This is because her absolutist, laissez-faire philosophy contradicts itself.)

When we examine Trump, we are torn between naming him evil genius and utter fool. Yes, he has an uncanny ability to attract educated followers who succumb to his beguiling ways and bend their ethics to the fracturepoint in the furtherance of his illegal and immoral schemes. But we also see that his eagerness to commit crimes and his penchant to spew hatredoften overrule his desire to hide such antisocial tendencies behind a curtain, like Nixon more carefully attempted.

Rand was born in Czarist Russia and was a teen during most of the Russian Revolution. From her perspective, socialism and totalitarianism were irreversibly intertwined, even though she acknowledged that Nazi rule in Germany began with a free electionand that Great Britain was only a partly-socialist nation. While we must concur with Rand that povertys breadth and the Kremlins atrocities in Soviet Russia are brutal condemnations of both the Soviet economy and its governing structure, she obviously got it wrong about Democratic Socialism as practiced for more than 100 years now, in Western Europe, which has achieved a relatively high degree of both econonmic and political equality among citizens (without excessive truncation of freedoms for individuals and businesses).

Rand was an avowed atheist, whereas Trump keeps his atheistic tendencies under wrap for political gain. While we know that Trump worships power and notoriety, Rand worshipped individual freedom and something she called objectivism which is essentially objectivity blended with rationalism (as contrasted with subjectivity and irrationalism).

Rand characterized two of historys co-parasitic evil forces with the names Attila (the tyrant) and the Witch Doctor (the priest). Hitler embodied both and to a lesser degree, so does Trump. The Witch Doctors role is to propagandize the massess so they dont believe their own eyes or their own brains (anti-objectivism) and Attilas role is to selectively apply brutal, excessive force on perceived enemies to create an example so the masses will fear using their brains independently of the leaders edicts.

Because Rand was also a strong advocate for law and order, its difficult to ignore the likelihood that her psyche must have had a bit of Attila blended in with the other portions of Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith. (Hint #2: Rand believed governments primary role was to deter looting and rioting so that Producers could have more freedom to make unlimited profits.)

Therational side of Rand makes me think she would be in favor the work of the January 6 committee, however her blind love of absolute freedom, which issues pardons for all sins committed by Producers, makes me wonder if today, she might be a frequent guest on Tucker Carlsons show.

In the best light, we can think of Liz Cheney as a modern-day Ayn Rand a strong advocate for small government when it comes to regulating big business, yet a staunch defender of the American Constitution when totalitarian, fascist, and anti-rational forces attack it. However, there is a worst light scenario too.

A new articleby Tom Nichols in The Atlantic sheds some light additional light on why so many Trump supporters find it so difficult to abandon their irrational world-view even when the level of irrationality grows day-by-day, and the facts demonstrate so clearly that Trump is a both a tyrant and a witch doctor. From the Nichols article:

But living in an alternate reality is unhealthyand dangerous, as I realized yet again while watching the January 6 committee hearings and listening to the stories of Republicans, such as Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers and others, describing the threats and harassment they have received for doing their duty to the Constitution.

I think the Trump superfans are terrified of being wrong. I suspect they know that for many years theyve made a terrible mistakethat Trump and his coterie took them to the cleaners and the cognitive dissonance is now rising to ear-splitting, chest-constricting levels. And so they will literally threaten to kill people like Kinzinger (among others) if thats what it takes to silence the last feeble voice of reason inside themselves.

So the MAGA base are scared to death of the consequences of their willful blindness and they lash out violently and pitifully in hopes they can postpone the day of reckoning.

Ayn Rand actuall spoke of this phenomenon, and it doesnt end well. There is scene toward the end of Atlas Shrugged where Dagny Taggart confronts a guard (an Attila) who is obstructing her access to John Galt (who is at that momentbeing tortured by James Taggart and others at the State Science Institute). Dagny sets up a philosphical dilemma for the guard to demonstrate his abandonment of his own reasoning faculties. The horns of this dilemma overhwhelm the guards undeveloped intellect. He tells Dagny its not fair for her to forcehim to make a decision, because hes not sure which action is right and which is wrong.

What follows is Dagnys penultimate conversion to authoritarianism, although Rand probably didnt view it that way.

Calmly and impersonally, she, who would have hesitated to fire at an animal, pulled the trigger and fired straight at the heart of a man who had wanted to exist without the responsibility of consciousness.

Come to think of it, perhaps Ayn Rand would prefer to be a talking head on Fox News.

Is it fair for us towonder what Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger would do if they were in Dagny Taggarts place? Im pretty sure I know what Elon Musk would do.

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Ayn Rand v Donald Trump? - Daily Kos