Newsletter: You Need to Know About Ayn Rand to Understand MAGA
The Cult of Selfishness Shaping Our Political Landscape
Many of us might only remember Ayn Rand as someone whose books we had to read for a college literature course. However, very few people realize that she led her own small cultic group.
Furthermore, her ideology of “objectivism” and upholding selfishness as a virtue has unfortunately become a part of our political landscape. Such books as The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged have become the philosophical backbone of MAGA and DOGE.
In this week’s post for paid subscribers, How a Cult Ideology of Selfishness Has Shaped American Politics, I explore Rand’s belief that the wealthy are the victims of the “parasitic” poor. This belief has become the driving force behind Elon Musk’s dismantling of our government, abandoning tens of thousands to poverty and starvation. In the article, I discuss:
How Rand’s Atlas Shrugged has shaped government policy
How altruism was re-framed as a sin
Ayn Rand’s cult - and how she controlled her followers
How Rand’s philosophy moved from fringe ideology to mainstream politics
How we can shed the ideas and move back to compassion
Please consider becoming a paid subscriber if you haven’t already. Your support helps fund my work, and in return, you’ll gain full access to our extensive resource archive.
This includes comprehensive guides like this week’s post, expert interviews, and insightful articles, such as:
Political Extremism and the Republican Party: The New Right — Russell Bellant joins me in a conversation about how Republican conservative ideals were warped by political extremism.
The History of Authoritarian Conservative Networks: A Conversation with Dave Troy — Dave Troy explains how coordinated right-wing interest groups, including libertarian movements with Randian roots, have worked for decades to dismantle democratic institutions.
The Echo Machine: How Right-Wing Extremism Created a Post-Truth America with David Pakman — Right-wing extremism, post-truth America, and media literacy converge in my conversation with David Pakman.
This week’s regular livestream will be on Wednesday, March 18th, at 2 pm EDT, and we will have a special livestream with Gareth Gore, author of Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy inside the Catholic Church, on Friday, March 20th, at 2 pm EDT. Gareth, whom I interviewed before, met with the Pope yesterday!
If you missed last week’s livestreams, here they are:
Prayer, Power & War: Critics Warn Trump’s Iran Messaging Sounds Like a “Holy War” - Wednesday, March 11th
Is Trump Doing Putin’s Work? Russia, Iran & Global Power Explained with Special Guest Craig Unger - Friday, March 13th
White Nationalism and MAGA
In this week’s episode of my Cults, Culture & Coercion podcast, “White Nationalism, MAGA, and the NAR,” I sat down with Adam James. Known as @epistemiccrisis to his over 700,000 Instagram followers, Adam was raised a Christian Nationalist / MAGA and the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR).
Beyond his experience as a former insider in authoritarian religion, he is a licensed physical therapist with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy (DPT) and fourteen years of geriatric home health care experience.
For the past several years, Adam has drawn on this dual expertise, as a clinician working daily with elderly patients and as a former NAR member. He analyzes and comments on what he perceives as unfolding at the highest levels of American government.
Listen on Apple | Spotify | Watch on YouTube
Read my Substack post about the interview:
White Nationalism, MAGA, and the NAR: A Conversation with Adam James
And last but certainly not least, if you are a subscriber of SiriusXM radio, you can listen to my interview with Zerlina Maxwell on her Mornings with Zerlina podcast, “Politics, Money, and Cults.” Zerlina and I “follow the money” and discuss the latest happenings in the Cult of Trump.
IMPORTANT REMINDER: put in your calendar Saturday March 28th for The No Kings2 protests! We want the biggest peaceful efforts- in the US and around the world! You can find where your local protest is happening on their website.
As always, please let us know what you think about these pieces or what you’d like to see us discuss in the future. Thanks so much!
Add to this descriptor as a cult of selfishness the unforgivable drive to expunge Empathy from our civic language, discourse, belief, education, and value. From Jeffrey Epstein through Pete Hegseth and the TechBros have actively campaigned for demonizing this higher level of consciousness and emotional intelligence.
I was a rabid Ayn Rand, NeoTech fan until I played the video game Bioshock, which is based on an under sea utopia turned dystopia. At first, I was upset a video game dared to criticize what I loved, but as I played, I realized the game predicted exactly what would happen - the sick and the injured who are no longer 'captains of industry' are cast out to live in the sewers.