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Title: Donald Trump vs. Howard Roark: Who Could Build a Classier Building?
Source:
Reason
URL Source: http://reason.com/blog/2016/04/12/d ... mp-vs-howard-roark-who-could-b
Published: Apr 12, 2016
Author: Brian Doherty
Post Date: 2016-04-14 09:18:20 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 937
Comments: 10
Who would have thought Donald Trump had great love for books? (Besides his own Art of the Deal and The Holy Bible, of course.) He now tells USA Today that he's: an Ayn Rand fan. He said of her novel The Fountainhead, “It relates to business (and) beauty (and) life and inner emotions. That book relates to ... everything.” He identified with Howard Roark, the novel's idealistic protagonist who designs skyscrapers and rages against the establishment. When I pointed out that The Fountainhead is in a way about the tyranny of groupthink, Trump sat up and said, “That’s what is happening here.” He then recounted a call he received from a liberal journalist: “How does it feel to have done what you have done? I said what have I done. He said nobody ever in the history of this country has done what you have done. And I said, well, if I lose, then no big deal. And he said no, no, if you lose, it doesn’t matter because this will be talked about forever. "And I said it will be talked about more if I win.” Yes, in an abstract way, The Fountainhead's hero, architect Howard Roark, is fighting "the tyranny of groupthink." But more specifically, he's standing up for an expansive vision of the rights of a creator over his property, and by extension everyone's right to their justly owned property and liberty. Rand was an artist and storyteller, but she deliberately crafted Fountainhead as a volley in a cultural war over individualism and political liberty and property, and it was seen by alert libertarian individualists in the cultural wilderness as a great blow in that cause, along with two nonfiction works by two of Rand's friends and influences that came out in the same year of 1943, Isabel Paterson's The God of the Machine and Rose Wilder Lane's The Discovery of Freedom. So it is not the sort of novel that should resonate with a fan of eminent domain and the power of government to tax or prevent free trade such as Trump. Still, he's certainly not alone among prominent people who express love for her novels without seeming to support her Objectivist philosophy and its political libertarianism in a rigorous way. Someone who fully understands Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, Craig Biddle at the Objectivist Standard, astutely notes that Trump the politician sounds more like any number of Ayn Rand villains. The Atlas Society compiled a list of other celebrities who have declared love for Rand the novelist or The Fountainhead without necessarily seeming to have grasped the libertarian political implications of its artistic individualism. That list of all-stars includes Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Vince Vaughn (who is also an avowed Ron Paul fan), Christina Ricci, Eva Mendes, Sharon Stone, Mayim Bialik, Rob Lowe, Jerry Lewis, and even leftist hero Oliver Stone. While Rand herself, and a significant subset of her fans, understood Fountainhead to have a deliberately libertarian political message, it is admittedly less obviously about the moral and practical dangers of Big Government than its follow-up, Atlas Shrugged. It has been an enduring mystery of Rand's work how the libertarianism she saw as inherent in it, and its libertarian admirers see in it, is so easily missed by so many readers. A bit of an exaggeration, but given the enormous number of readers she's had as a popular novelist, if she were as effective as injecting readers with her philosophy as she wanted to be, we'd already all be living in Galt's Gulch. Rand once wrote in an introduction to one edition of The Fountainhead of men of prominence who would privately admit to her, or to others in a way that got back to her, of a deep and enduring admiration for her work that they would never speak of publicly. Nathaniel Branden, for many years Rand's primary intellectual disciple, told me of appearing on TV with some prominent '60s leftist radicals who raved to him about their adoration of Rand, which confused him. But to them her message was just one of fighting the power and doing one's own thing, regardless of one's vision of the proper role of government Trump's version of "business, beauty, life and inner emotions" has a lot less respect for the rights and achievements of other individuals than Rand's. Fountainhead's architect hero Roark was precisely a success to Rand as an artist because he wasn't "successful" in terms of wealth and acclaim that obviously mean the most to Trump. Roark for most of his career was the opposite of a Trumpian "winner." Rand's enemies have often accused her work as being essentially an excuse for being an asshole. This is not true, though statements like Trump's make it harder to convince those who haven't actually read or thought about Rand of that. As I wrote in my book Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement, it's certainly true that the vast majority of her many millions of fans as a novelist either didn't get the political part, or were able to enjoy her skills as a builder of plot and character without worrying about it. (I can imagine this being more possible with Fountainhead; how any non-libertarian can read Atlas without feeling like a bad dog having his face shoved in a pile of poop he left on the nice carpet is frankly beyond me, but it obviously happens.) Trump is not the first avowed fan of Rand to not understand her, and he won't be the last. 
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#1. To: Deckard (#0)
When I read Atlas Shrugged I was not a libertarian. I did not feel as though I was a bad dog having my face shoved in a pile of poop I left on the nice carpet. I felt like I was reading a very long novel by a teenager.
Trump as a businessman was a classic crony capitalist giving donations and getting favors and breaks . Howard Roark by contrast would not be sold or sell out . Trump is more like James Taggart from 'Atlas Shrugged' .... authoritarian, statists, and big government . A yuge ,"well run by the best people " ,Leviathan is still a Leviathan.
"If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." Plato
Trump has never designed or built anything. He hires people to do all that. His talent is being born into wealth and privilege.
BOYCOTT PAYPAL AND CLOSE YOUR PP ACCOUNTS NOW! ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO,TOO! ISLAM MEANS SUBMISSION! Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012) American Indians had open borders. Look at how well that worked out for them.
Excellent analysis. BOYCOTT PAYPAL AND CLOSE YOUR PP ACCOUNTS NOW! ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO,TOO! ISLAM MEANS SUBMISSION! Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012) American Indians had open borders. Look at how well that worked out for them.
Roark is a fictional character. Trump is a real person dealing with reality, and as we all know, this particular reality is a doozie.
Notify Trump, who "identified with Howard Roark, the novel's idealistic protagonist who designs skyscrapers and rages against the establishment." A government strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.
the fictional Roark did not have to stroke his ego by putting his name all over his achievement. People who saw his structures knew Roark built them... sorta like if someone looks at a Frank Lloyd Wright structure they know he designed it . "If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools." Plato
tomder55 --- Trump is more like James Taggart from 'Atlas Shrugged' .... authoritarian, statists, and big government. Excellent analysis. --- sneakypete I read Atlas Shrugged as as teenager that knew it was poorly written, --- but very valid nevertheless. Trump is a mixture of Roark and James Taggart from 'Atlas Shrugged' .... authoritarian, yet against big government. Nothing wrong with that.
There is no such creature in existence,including Trump the Chump. He just thinks there should be laws that apply to HIM. BOYCOTT PAYPAL AND CLOSE YOUR PP ACCOUNTS NOW! ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO DO SO,TOO! ISLAM MEANS SUBMISSION! Why is democracy held in such high esteem when it’s the enemy of the minority and makes all rights relative to the dictates of the majority? (Ron Paul,2012) American Indians had open borders. Look at how well that worked out for them.
Trump is a mixture of Roark and James Taggart from 'Atlas Shrugged' .... authoritarian, yet against big government. Nothing wrong with that. Beg to differ, -- I think my CinC, Ike, was one. Granted, Ike wasn't a blow hard loud mouth, but you can't have everything.
I can imagine this being more possible with Fountainhead; how any non-libertarian can read Atlas without feeling like a bad dog having his face shoved in a pile of poop he left on the nice carpet is frankly beyond me, but it obviously happens.
#2. To: Deckard (#0)
(Edited)
#3. To: Deckard (#0)
#4. To: tomder55 (#2)
Trump is more like James Taggart from 'Atlas Shrugged' .... authoritarian, statists, and big government
#5. To: tomder55 (#2)
#6. To: Logsplitter (#5)
Roark is a fictional character.
#7. To: Logsplitter (#5)
Roark is a fictional character. Trump is a real person dealing with reality, and as we all know, this particular reality is a doozie.
#8. To: sneakypete, tomder55, vicomte 13, Y'ALL (#4)
(Edited)
When I read Atlas Shrugged ---- felt like I was reading a very long novel by a teenager. ---- Vicomte13
#9. To: tpaine (#8)
Trump is a mixture of Roark and James Taggart from 'Atlas Shrugged' .... authoritarian, yet against big government.
#10. To: sneakypete (#9)
There is no such creature in existence,including Trump the Chump.
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