“But his lack of a principled defense of freedom is and has been the West’s downfall for decades.”
I am very familiar with Rand’s fiction and nonfiction works and her philosophy of Objectivism. I have learned that Trump, too, has read Rand’s books, as has Lyin’ Ryan. Fed Chairman Greenspan was one of her acolytes. Which one of those three has ever done anything remotely attributable to the principles espoused by Rand? That’s not a trick question.
Although Rand was an atheist, I believe she would agree Trump is the figure whose actions were closest to what she would do. Trump is practically the living embodiment of Rand’s heroic fictional characters, such as Roarke and Galt. Trump’s references to God are simply recognizing what Enlightenment figures, like the Founding Fathers, all took for granted. That is, an Aristotelian and Thomist recognition of Nature and Nature’s God.
Good comment.
I would add that I believe (although who can know another man’s heart?) that President Trump is a true Christian and that he believes as he says he believes. However — some of the early Conservatives (1700s) were “enlightened” and no longer believed in God — yet they still agreed that the Bible was a very valuable book and that Christian morality was foundational to any well-ordered society. Christianity works.
For the state of any man’s soul, I would urge him to truly believe in God and to trust Jesus as his savior. But even if a man’s only wish was to build a decent secular society on Earth for the Here and Now, then the teachings of Christianity are still the way to go. It is truly the only way to save the West.
No matter how you slice it, President Trump is right on target. I think even Rand would be pleased with him.