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Miles Archer

(18,837 posts)
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 06:00 AM Dec 2016

This Raw Story piece on the number of Ayn Rand fanboys in Trump's cadre is beyond "chilling."

Another piece in which the "four paragraph rule" doesn't fully express what's going on here. If you want to get to the core of the "Trump Administration" mindset, do yourself a favor, go to the link, and read the entire article.



The scary ghost of Ayn Rand looms over the Trump cabinet

KALI HOLLOWAY, ALTERNET
15 DEC 2016 AT 00:23 ET



http://www.rawstory.com/2016/12/the-scary-ghost-of-ayn-rand-looms-over-the-trump-cabinet/

Ayn Rand was a terrible person who wove a philosophy of selfishness and greed out of the threads of her own psychopathy. Rand’s writings and speeches should be recognized as rantings suited for an audience of a well-trained therapist, instead of inflicted upon millions of English students.

Rand, who declared “altruism” a national disease, wrote admiringly of child-murderer William Edward Hickman’s callous indifference toward others and his “immense, explicit egotism.” Her contempt for the poor and middle-class are pronounced by anti-Robin Hoods who brag about stealing from “the thieving poor” to give to “the productive rich.” Rand defended Native American genocide and murderous white supremacy, once stating “any white person who brought the elements of civilization had the right to take over this continent.” Objectivism, Rand’s refutation of basic human decency in favor of pathological self-interest and ruthless capitalism, was correctly identified as “perfect in its immorality” by Gore Vidal more than half a century ago. Today it’s the prevailing ethos of the GOP, embraced by Republicans going back to Ronald Reagan and especially beloved among the incoming Trump administration.

As James Hohmann of the Washington Post notes, Trump pledged his affection to Rand in an interview earlier this year with Kirsten Powers. Trump, who proudly admits he doesn’t read—neither books nor intelligence briefings that might slow his roll toward starting a nuclear war—told Powers he relates to Howard Roark, the architect protagonist of The Fountainhead. Roark espouses the warped belief that selfishness is a virtue (“Man’s first duty is to himself”) and commits a violent sexual assault. Without specifics, it’s hard to know precisely where Trump thinks the resemblance begins and ends.

Hohmann writes that Trump’s labor secretary pick Andy Puzder “is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, which is owned by Roark Capital Group, a private equity fund named after Howard Roark.” When the New York Times asked for a few personal insights about Puzder from one of his business cohorts, the fast-food titan was described only as an “avid reader who loves Ayn Rand.” Puzder recently told the Wall Street Journal’s Jennifer Grossman that he’s advised all six of his kids to read The Fountainhead, in the hope they’ll “lead the kind of lives of achievement, integrity and independence that Ayn Rand celebrated in her novels.”
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This Raw Story piece on the number of Ayn Rand fanboys in Trump's cadre is beyond "chilling." (Original Post) Miles Archer Dec 2016 OP
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did a "How is this Still a Thing" segment on Rand. Dark n Stormy Knight Dec 2016 #1
The best ancedote about Rand DonCoquixote Dec 2016 #2
Paul Ryan makes his staffers read "Atlas Shrugged" vlyons Dec 2016 #3
My favorite quote about her suits Paul Ryan to a T! Staph Dec 2016 #10
She Was A Raving Psychopath colsohlibgal Dec 2016 #4
she was also a drug addict zippythepinhead Dec 2016 #5
She looks a bit unhinged during this interview. Snarkoleptic Dec 2016 #11
Ayn Rand in Hell superpatriotman Dec 2016 #6
And she was on Medicare, SS, and in public housing when she died. Fucking Nay Dec 2016 #9
Gee, I take it that they all enjoyed the rape scene as well MrScorpio Dec 2016 #7
She is the opposite of what Christ stood for Martin Eden Dec 2016 #8
The republican ideology is social darwinism zippythepinhead Dec 2016 #12
A combination of that and the Taliban Martin Eden Dec 2016 #13
you are exactly correct zippythepinhead Dec 2016 #15
Randroids, as we used to call them in college, running the show. KamaAina Dec 2016 #14
I prefer another speed freak's writings zippythepinhead Dec 2016 #16

Dark n Stormy Knight

(9,760 posts)
1. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver did a "How is this Still a Thing" segment on Rand.
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 06:29 AM
Dec 2016

It's short, but gets right to the heart of the problem with Madam MeMeMe & Her Devotees. (Worst band name ever!)



Ayn Rand became famous for her philosophy of objectivism, which is a nice way of saying "being a selfish asshole."

vlyons

(10,252 posts)
3. Paul Ryan makes his staffers read "Atlas Shrugged"
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 07:51 AM
Dec 2016

Rand's last novel, wherein all gov bureaucrats are evil "moochers," and the heros are a high-seas pirate, an industrialist, a railroad CEO, and a brilliant guy who destroys America and takes all the fellow hero's off to a remote "Galt's Gulch," where they live happily ever after in a society based on the gold standard.

Staph

(6,251 posts)
10. My favorite quote about her suits Paul Ryan to a T!
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 03:25 PM
Dec 2016

“There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs."


colsohlibgal

(5,275 posts)
4. She Was A Raving Psychopath
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 08:28 AM
Dec 2016

Ted Bundy would be her kind of guy. What a lunatic.

This is a disease that has been simmering, and now has spread to too many on the right.

We are in for a bumpy ride and hopefully somehow this situation jolts working class people who voted for Orange guy back to whatever sense might be in them.

Ayn Rand should be in Hell right now with Hitler and his like.

Snarkoleptic

(5,997 posts)
11. She looks a bit unhinged during this interview.
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 04:06 PM
Dec 2016

Watch her eyes darting around...looks like a speed freak to me.

MrScorpio

(73,630 posts)
7. Gee, I take it that they all enjoyed the rape scene as well
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 08:56 AM
Dec 2016

I guess that this explains President-elect Pussygrabber to a T.

Martin Eden

(12,863 posts)
8. She is the opposite of what Christ stood for
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 09:34 AM
Dec 2016

The religious right claims to love Jesus, yet they embrace Ayn Rand.

The Republican Party is an Orwellian psychosis.

 

zippythepinhead

(374 posts)
12. The republican ideology is social darwinism
Thu Dec 15, 2016, 07:32 PM
Dec 2016

Much like the nazis such as natural selection and survival of the fittest.






















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