Atlas Shrugged: The Ayn Rand prophesy of the rise of Donald Trump
Donald Trump is using tariffs and trade wars to build an economy much like the one Ayn Rand warned us about in her book, Atlas Shrugged.
If you’re a regular reader and/or listener of The Strident Conservative, you know that I occasionally refer to George Orwell and his novel 1984 to describe much of what is happening in America today. Most recently, I wrote an article ahead of the 2024 election that showed how the second coming of Donald Trump, the capitulation of the Republican party to his inevitable nomination, and the nature of the Republican/Democrat duopoly in Washington were turning Orwell’s work of fiction into reality.
While it’s true that there is a striking resemblance between the fictional nation of Oceana mentioned in Orwell’s book and the America of today, there is an equally troubling work of fiction that reflects the current condition of our once great Republic, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
In her depiction of a dystopian United States, Rand describes how private businesses have been all but destroyed by big government due to burdensome laws, regulations, and mandates. Her apocalyptic vision of a conflict between “looters” (proponents of high taxation, big labor, government ownership, government spending, government planning, regulation, and redistribution) and “non-looters” (individualists who built American business) is a perfect picture of what we are witnessing in America today.
Trump has played the looter role; picking winners and losers by taxing free trade and engaging in a trade war with the world that is creating the “command economy.” What is a command economy? (via The Balance):
A command economy is a system in which a central government makes all economic decisions. Either the government or a collective owns the land and the means of production. This central authority typically determines what goods should be produced, how much should be produced, and the prices at which the goods are offered.
A command economy, also known as a planned economy, is one in which the central government plans, organizes, and controls all economic activities to maximize social welfare.
Command economies, as opposed to free-market economies, do not allow market forces like supply and demand to determine production or prices.
Command economies threaten to stifle innovation, and they often create inefficiencies, which is why former prominent command economies like China and Russia have become mixed economies by incorporating more free-market forces over time.
Other examples of command economies include Belarus, Iran, North Korea, and the former Soviet Union.
The central plan sets the priorities for the production of all goods and services. That includes quotas and price controls. The government creates laws, regulations, and directives to enforce the central plan. Businesses follow the plan’s production and hiring targets. They can’t respond on their own to free-market forces. (Emphasis mine)
Regardless of any rhetoric to the contrary, a command economy allows a central authority to control everything, leaving the citizenry under the thumb of government’s plan. This leads to the gradual erosion of liberty and the destruction of innovation and growth.
Last week, Donald Trump “shrugged” at the inflationary consequences of his tariffs and trade wars and embraced his command economy agenda on two occasions. First, there was his executive order requiring price controls on prescription drugs (via NY Daily News):
President Trump said Monday he will implement a prescription drug payment plan that could dramatically lower prices paid by Medicare and possibly Medicaid, although details remain murky.
Trump claimed his proposed plan to tie drug prices to those paid in foreign nations would lower payments by the U.S. by up to 90%, although experts said it’s unclear if the plan is legal and how exactly it would work.
“Whatever the lowest price is in other developed countries, that’s the price we’ll pay,” Trump said in a rambling news conference that touched on his wider global trade war and other issues.
“We can get prices down 60, 70, 80 even 90%,” Trump added. “It’s even more than that when you think of it mathematically.”
Second, there was Trump’s threat directed at Walmart CEO Doug McMillan, telling him not to raise prices nor blame his tariffs for higher costs to consumers (via Truth Social post):
“Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, “EAT THE TARIFFS,” and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!” (Emphasis mine)
Donald Trump and the Trumpist Republican Party are receiving plenty of support when it comes to using the power of government to force its will on private business. What would Trumpism be without an endorsement from the talking heads working for Con, Inc., such as this one from one of the members of the pro-Trump echo chamber at BlazeTV . . . Steve Deace:
Ironically, Deace is endorsing a command economy that is the exact opposite of free market capitalism. But with Trumpism and Nationalism having blurred the lines of conservatism beyond recognition, what else would you expect from one of Glenn Beck’s disciples?
In the end, a command economy like the one being developed by Donald Trump and the Trumpist Republican Party will put government in a place where they own all the key industries, such as transportation, communication, and utilities. And as far as private businesses are concerned, government will mandate full compliance with the plan, thus eliminating entrepreneurship and individual initiative. Free markets and economic liberty will be replaced with fascism, socialism, Marxism, and Communism.
Atlas Shrugged used to be considered a work of fiction, but Donald Trump is using it as an instruction manual to destroy free markets and economic liberty to make room for a command economy that will doom America as Ayn Rand pointed out in her novel:
“When you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing; when you see that money is flowing to those who deal not in goods, but in favors; when you see that men get rich more easily by graft than by work, and your laws no longer protect you against them, but protect them against you. . . you may know that your society is doomed.”
“Atlas Shrugged” – Ayn Rand
David Leach is the owner of the Strident Conservative and the author of The New Axis of Evil: Exposing the Bipartisan War on Liberty. He holds people of every political stripe accountable for their failure to uphold conservative values, and he promotes those values instead of political parties.
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