The Galt's Gulch* Presidency

The emerging nightmare that is the administration of neo- fascist Putin pal Donald "Rump" Trump not only has it's Goldman Sachs/ fossil fuel baron imprint on it, but something as or more disturbing, as James Hohmann points out:

The president-elect said this spring that he’s a fan of [Ayn] Rand and identifies with Howard Roark, the main character in “The Fountainhead.”  [snip] 

[Secretary of State designate Rex] 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. 

Andy Puzder, tapped by Trump last week to be secretary of labor, is an avid and outspoken fan of Rand’s books. One profiler last week asked what he does in his free time, and a friend replied that he reads Ayn Rand. 

Mike Pompeo, who will have the now-very-difficult job of directing the Central Intelligence Agency for Trump, has often said that Rand’s works inspired him. “One of the very first serious books I read when I was growing up was Atlas Shrugged, and it really had an impact on me,” the Kansas congressman told Human Events in 2011. (our emphasis)

For anyone not familiar with the basic tenets of Ayn Rand's "Objectivism", Hohmann gives us a helpful vignette:

Remember that scene in “Dirty Dancing” when Baby tries to get that waiter who knocked up Johnny’s dance partner to pay for her abortion? He refuses and instead pulls out a weathered copy of “The Fountainhead,” urging her to read it. “Some people count, and some people don’t,” he tells her. Jennifer Grey’s character responds by pouring a pitcher of water on him. In popular culture, the Rand acolytes are that guy. 

The fact that all of these men, so late in life, are such fans of works that celebrate individuals who consistently put themselves before others is therefore deeply revealing. They will now run our government.  (our emphasis)

"Some people count, and some people don't." That was certainly the guiding principle of the Trump campaign and will certainly be the same for the Trump administration.

BONUS:  More from Driftglass.

BONUS II: It's good to recall John Rogers' oft-quoted snark about Rand's Atlas Shrugged:

"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."

BONUS III:  Jonathan Chait on why Rand still appeals to Republicans.
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*Galt's Gulch is where the main character (John Galt) of Rand's dystopian novel "Atlas Shrugged" repairs to lead a strike by business leaders against the government (as noted in the Tillerson graf). The self- anointed plutocrat elite rebelling against government that allows "poor people to 'leech' the hard-earned wealth of the rich..." Sounds like the blueprint for the next four years.

Also, this distillation of Rand's "rational selfishness" creed:

Another Inmate Will Be Helping To Run The Trump Asylum (UPDATED)

As they say, if you're shocked by any of this, you haven't been paying attention. (Also, "elections have consequences.")

The appointment of alt- right anti- Semite Steve "Assputin" Bannon as chief strategist and senior counselor to neo- fascist wig stand Donald "Rump" Trump was a yuuge tell.  Then there was Putin- curious Michael Flynn as National Security Advisor, a crackpot and a person whose shrouded, conflict- of- interest background mimics a Russian Matryoshka nesting doll. Now, here comes the latest inmate of the fringe right asylum reportedly ready to take his place in a critical government position.

Meet reported front- runner for Attorney General, Alabama Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, an early Rump supporter and immigration hardliner. A person once deemed too racist to be appointed a Federal judge (by a Republican Senate!), Beauregard has a nasty history, as one might expect from an Alabama Republican:

Back in the mid-1980s, when Sessions was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Alabama, President Ronald Reagan nominated him to become a federal judge. But during the nomination process, allegations emerged that Sessions had called a black attorney “boy,” that he suggested a white civil rights lawyer was a race traitor, that he joked he liked the Ku Klux Klan until he found out they smoked marijuana and that he referred to civil rights groups as “un-American” organizations trying to “force civil rights down the throats of people who were trying to put problems behind them.”

You were expecting Eric Holder?

More recently, here's where Beauregard stands on the issues:

-  Voted no on reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act;

-  Voted yes on Constitutional ban on same- sex marriage;

-  Voted no on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes;

 -  Voted yes on loosening restrictions on wiretapping cell phones;

-  Voted yes on ending special funding for minority- and women- owned businesses;

-  Rated 20% by the ACLU, indicating an anti- civil rights record;

-  Rated 0% by the HRC, indicating an anti- gay rights record;

-  Rated 7% by the NAACP, indicating an anti- affirmative action record.

Clearly, Beauregard stands firmly in the 19th Century.

So, we think it's safe to say Beauregard won't be looking after the best interests of women, minorities, or justice in general.  As a bonus, he seems the kind of AG that FBI Director Comey, his New York field office and Milwaukee County's skeevy Sheriff David Clarke (new Homeland Security Secretary?) can play ball with, though.

UPDATE:  Adding to the crackpottery at the most sensitive levels of government, there's this teabagger pol who's in line for CIA Director.  Nice. You think there'll be any pushback on Russia now?

UPDATE II:  Martin Longman takes a somewhat deeper dive into Flynn, Sessions and Pompeo (though, shall we say, the pool is rather shallow).