Ayn Rand-acolyte Donald Trump stacks his cabinet with fellow objectivists

[DonViejo]

By James Hohmann December 13 at 9:28 AM

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump has decided to risk a confirmation fight, officially nominating ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson to be secretary of state this morning. Tillerson and Trump had no previous relationship, but the Texas oilman and the New York developer hit it off when they met face to face. One of the things that they have in common is their shared affection for the works of Ayn Rand, the libertarian heroine who celebrated laissez-faire capitalism.

The president-elect said this spring that he’s a fan of Rand and identifies with Howard Roark, the main character in “The Fountainhead.” Roark, played by Gary Cooper in the film adaptation, is an architect who dynamites a housing project he designed because the builders did not precisely follow his blueprints. “It relates to business, beauty, life and inner emotions. That book relates to ... everything,” Trump told Kirsten Powers for a piece in USA Today.

-- Tillerson prefers “Atlas Shrugged,” Rand’s novel about John Galt secretly organizing a strike of the creative class to hasten the collapse of the bureaucratic society. The CEO listed it as his favorite book in a 2008 feature for Scouting Magazine, according to biographer Steve Coll.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2016/12/13/daily-202-ayn-rand-acolyte-donald-trump-stacks-his-cabinet-with-fellow-objectivists/584f5cdfe9b69b36fcfeaf3b/?utm_term=.8e6902af259c&wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1

[JHan]

1. Just what we need: Ayn Rand nutjobs

[DonViejo]

2. Why not? We have one playing Speaker of the House eom

[rsdsharp]

3. Donald Trump has the attention span of a gnat.

There is no way he has read Ayn Rand. Her works are torture for those who can concentrate on something for longer than five minutes. He may have seen the movie, but he hasn't read The Fountainhead.

No way.