Ayn Rand enthusiasts [Objectivists], this one’s for you. I was asked by Charlotte Cushman: “I have a question for you. What explains the psychology of someone who is obsessed with bashing somebody else? I am thinking of all the so-called Objectivists who seem to spend all their time bashing Trump over and over again.” In part, she’s referring to the Ayn Rand Institute [ARI] staff members, who appear to suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome.
What follows is my answer. I’d welcome comments on this, especially from David Harriman [former Ayn Rand Institute associate, author and physicist].
The type of person who clings to an organization like ARI (the so-called Ayn Rand Institute) is the type of person who cannot or will not think for himself. It’s ironic, given the epistemological foundation of Objectivism (i.e., knowledge is objective, not social, not subjective). From what I understand, this issue goes back to the time when Ayn Rand was at the center of an Objectivist movement that she later stated explicitly (in her “To whom it may concern” letter triggered by her break with Nathaniel Branden in 1968) that she never wanted to lead.
After her death, ARI kind of became a way to fill the void left by the irreplaceable figure of Rand. To an extent, it was understandable, and in those days (the late 1980s/early 1990s) the Institute mainly did what it claimed to be doing — spreading Rand’s ideas. Now, ARI marginally spends time spreading ideas of Rand’s, but mostly seems to focus on Brook’s largely leftist vision (politically) of how the world should look. It’s worse than leftism, because it disguises itself as something other than what it is, and it does so under Ayn Rand’s name, no less. None of it would be possible without the camp followers to pay attention to it all. So while I don’t want to psychologize (since psychology is unique to each individual), I’d wager a guess that the people shrieking about Trump in Ayn Rand’s name are simply engaging in camp following of their Rand-substitute, Yaron Brook. These are the people who have not yet moved out of their parents’ intellectual basements. In short: they need Rand around, but she’s long gone; so instead of using her brilliant philosophy to think for themselves, they enlist the aid of Yaron Brook. And if Brook hates Trump with the virulent animosity of any Democrat leftist, well, that’s good enough for them. Note that in 1972, Rand endorsed voting for Richard Nixon over the socialist George McGovern as an emergency; Trump is less flawed than Nixon, and today’s Democrat Party is so far left and insane it makes McGovern look like George Washington.
It’s sad but it’s not tragic. There’s nothing tragic about Rand’s incredible contribution to the subjects of metaphysics, epistemology and ethics. Those contributions can withstand the mess that is the current ARI; my own approach is not to dwell on it, any more than one would dwell on the scene of a car accident. In the bigger scheme of things (and even the smaller scheme), these trolls for ARI’s version of Trump Derangement Syndrome are unimportant. If you want to see leftist trolls worthy of the name, just turn on MSNBC or CNN.
David Harriman’s comments: Exactly right, Michael. More could be said, but that is an excellent start. The innocent people at ARI are simply promoting Rand’s work or trying to follow a recipe that they don’t understand. But there are others who are hostile to anyone who is a better intellectual. It’s ironic because they claim to be developing the next generation of “new intellectuals.” The fact is that they hate anyone who has a deep understanding of Objectivism and does original work.
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