I had recently written to the atlas Society, expressing my disappointment that they were not doing very much to counter this on my mistakable Road to authoritarianism. The Atlas Society appears to be satisfied to discuss the various pros and cons of individual actions by Mr. Trump. I thought they had a better grasp of history and a philosophical base capable of fending off this most evident source of evil. I have been a follower of Ayn Rand for over 65 years. I’m sure she would be astonished by the current apathy displayed by those pretending to support her csuse.
In any case you stand out as an exception Robert and I will be proud to support your effort with a contribution.
What has always stood out to me in your work, Robert, is the courage to remain independent when the cost is high. I know this moment has been difficult, but your willingness to persevere is exactly what makes your voice so valuable. Many of us are grateful that you keep going. Steven
While I share your opinion of Trump's character and intentions, I have a lower opinion of his capabilities and a higher opinion of the capabilities of those who can resist and oppose him than many others do, making me sort of a semi-optimist about the country, at least by comparison. (For example I think it likely that the dread pirate and his crew will strike down the rejection of birthright citizenship, the claim of arbitrary power to impose tariffs, the use of the sedition act to deport illegal aliens, and the capricious firing of a member of the fed.) But that does not matter in the context of what you are doing. It is right, important, needed, and gutsy. After all the fact that some of us are not as worried as you are does not mean we are not worried as hell about some of the stuff that is going on.
Hi, Robert. I'm a longtime subscriber to your newsletter and this looks like a truly valuable piece of work that you're putting together. I'm also a professional voice actor and audiobook narrator. If you are not planning on narrating the audiobook yourself, I'd love to collaborate with you on bringing it to life as a narrator. Let me know if this is a way I can contribute to helping these ideas reach more people.
Here is my page on ACX (the Audiobook Content Exchange).
Even if it's not right for this project of yours, I'd love to work with you on any number of your other projects. You have a unique voice in this political-cultural maelstrom, and I'd love to help bring your work to life.
Thanks for the offer! I've got plenty of radio experience, though, and I think I would find it weird to hear my words read in someone else's voice. So I think I'll do it myself.
But I've never done an audiobook before, so I would appreciate advice on formatting--e.g., do you record each chapter as a separate file? What parts of the headers, titles, main title, etc., do you say? (I'm not much of an e-book listener, either, so I don't have a good baseline here.) Reply to any edition of the newsletter to send me an e-mail, or share your experience here in the comments if you're willing.
Sure, no problem. With the books that I've done, generally I produce them as mp3 files using Audacity (or whatever DAW you prefer). I know that ACX/Audible has some audio quality standards that they check for. I would go to their site to get familiar with those even if you don't plan to distribute through them. And, yes, I will have one file per chapter, plus additional files for opening credits, closing credits, acknowledgements, prologue, epilogue, etc. Hope this helps!
Hi Rob, Way to go! I contributed and look forward to receiving the book. Will the book be available on Apple Books and Kindle? Hope so, since many people are like me and really prefer e-books. Your book should go along way with me promoting anti-trump reasoning to my congressman and friends!
I just donated. Thank you for your remarkable set of skills and your courage to employ them for the betterment of all of us - even your detractors who obviously don't understand just what they are destroying with their blind trust and confidence in this dictator wanna be.
Dictatorship, heh? Yet the Trumpists allow you to PUBLISH a very anti-Trumpian book instead of marching you off to the GULAG - or giving you the ever popular with dictators bullet in the back of the head so beloved by Stalin.
BTW, everything Trump has done passes muster with the U.S. Constitution that combines the Head of State (The King) with the Head of the Government (Prime Minister) as Chief Executive, who also is Commander-In-Chief (CIC) of the U.S. Armed Forces (The Emperor- Latin for "Commander")....
The historical record proves that American Presidents under strong men like Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt can author revolutionary changes and command vast armies in wars of conquest of dangerous enemy nations or rebels whose goal is the overthrow or the Republic.
Donald John Trump elected in 2024 by a majority of Americans in the popular vote in our only national election on an agenda of law & order. economic reforms, etc. and is off to a good start in what amounts to a counter revolution to the revolutionary neo-Communist agenda of the Obama and Biden administrations that you supported as examples of "Liberalism."
Let me make a prediction: Trump like Voltaire would agree that though he may disagree with everything you say - he will defend to the death your right to say! So no knock on your door at 3 am in your future, or a one way trip to GITMO.
The First Amendment, heh? Darn pesky thing that U.S. Constitution that allows you to be highly critical of a majority elected and very popular president - and allows me the right to disagree with everything you say.
Anyhow, I enjoy reading your pose and I will buy a copy of your book when it is published.
"Once, when asked for his opinion of Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill mused: “If I regard de Gaulle as a great man? He is selfish, he is arrogant, he believes he is the center of the world. He . . . You are quite right. He is a great man.” Churchill knew whereof he spoke: During World War II, it was he who bore the brunt of the Frenchman’s intransigence."
I cover this in the book, and in my previous article. The attempt to impose dictatorship is incomplete, which is why I can keep writing. But I already know personally of articles that haven't been written because someone with a green card fears retribution. And in the book I discuss reports that Democrats are having trouble getting top-quality law firms to represent them because the law firms are afraid of Trump. Because a dictatorship doesn't get imposed completely and all at once doesn't mean it's not happening. By your logic, there's no way I could warn people until it was already illegal to do so.
I kinda figured you were as up to making like R.E.M. and Document (their weakest effort to that date, and most successful L.P. yet) The Don’s high crimes (Ashli Babbitt still cannot be reached for comment) and misdemeanors (To thee Don white trash Proud Boyz say we salute you…like Grok Elon) against our sacred Republic (if it takes one all day to read your Unpopulist posts, one can only not begin to fathom how you can begin to edit, Trump is right about everything…I kid, I kid parenthetically)
Trump is not a dick tator (hat tip Jonah). He is an Il Duce wannabe Tony Soprano in the flesh…carrying on the family crime tradition…a crony capitalist pig like his father and his father before him…now with the twisted fate of running against Selina Meyer, the Trump Bible Publisher controls the god foresaken reigns and power off the federal government. Good luck with Project 2025. Speaking of R.E.M. Donald J Trump literally thinks he is “[I am Superman and I know what is happening….I am, I am Superman….and I can do ANYTHING!” Gotta run on God help U.S. We the Living in Idiocracy. Thanks for taking my rant R.T. Peace through superior mental firepower
Howard Beale, heh? I liked you in "Network" - especially that scene where he gets his viewers to go to their windows and yell to the pouring rain, "I'm madder than hell and I'm not going to take it any longer."
Interestingly, patriotic Americans were madder than hell at the so-called liberal destruction of the Republic, but instead of going to civil war and the overthrow of the federal government by force of arms, decided to go the legal constitutional route and stood with Trump when he offered his leadership in 2015.
Thanks for the clip I think my chosen sarcastic moniker is already well familiar with the why, what, and where a fictional character was coming from…Hmmmn, if I did not know better, I would have to take a second look to see a detractor of mine is lamenting on my definite anti Trumpism in the American Greatness comments section…but like the whore house that is the Bada Bing, I mean Oval Office, I would never go there until it foresakes everything vile and obscene that Heat Miser has touched his forked tongue, I mean paws with….including what is left of your moral compass Robert. Unlike The Don I do not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate a President of the United States who has lived a misspent life (hat tip Hitch) doing so to get ahead in this world.
I find it most “Interesting”, followed by the words “patriotic Americans” is formulated by a sleight of polemical hands to mean all those that agree with you and the grotesque figurehead pictured at the top of this Tracinski Letter. With all do disrespect to one of his paying subscribers and my interlocutor, I would not be offended in the slightest if you only spoke the truth about The Don and than gave me your opinion…of the ogre. I have zero desire to make fun of you, but when you conflate the sentiments “patriotic American” (which, by definition should be the one that literally swore an oath to our sacred Constitution’ with an fing Il Duce wannabe meets Tony Soprano in the flesh…I gotta wonder if you know the audience to which you are a fellow subscriber…which, corollary, would explain why you literally speak nothing of Tracinski’s actual lamenting about your hero’s complete disregard for our nation’s founding Document or his literal attempt to overthrow the Republic for which it stands because he could not accept the constitutional route, i.e. the results of an election he lost fair and square (Ashli Babbitt still cannot be reached for comment)…and was madder than hell and incited a white trash riot where clowns that call themselves proud boyz attacked our nation’s sacred Capital chanting “HANG MIKE PENCE”…some patriot, I mean hero of yours…and like Tracinski, I will be opposed to him in print and action, and as gracefully oppose you and all the tortured logic of yours as is possible…after all, somewhat in my brain my conscience informs me that you actually believe you are a patriot…just as, to my dismay, you do not realize that when I said, not in jest, but as a statement of fact, if you were in the line of fire your hero would always have your back…because unlike patriots, The Don only cares about what’s good for himself and his disgusting progeny…hence he would shake hands admiringly with a war criminal and mass murderer who criminal government has cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars to defend AGAINST, over the course of The Dons entire life…of which The Don, because he is not a patriot, could give a flyin f about, because, like I said, he is an Il Duce wannabe Tony Soprano…in other words, a book in progress because you cannot see that Donald John (forgive me, could you be a bigger sicko fan, I mean dork speller that out…) Trump is literally a clear and present danger to the Republic you profess to love. Gotta run on. Thanks for taking my rant, you kinda asked for it. And yes, if The Don could get away with squelching Tracinski First Amendment right, The Don already would have…don’t believe me, than look up your heroes own quotes about what he would like to do to his detractors, let alone what he thinks of the Document je swore an oath to uphold. Wait, didn’t I say I gotta run on. That is all. Peace through superior mental firepower
Hi Rob. Proud to have my name on your book. And Thank You!
I just donated, and I am proud to be a sponsor! Thanks for doing this vitally important work, Rob!
I I appreciate and applaud your courage.
I had recently written to the atlas Society, expressing my disappointment that they were not doing very much to counter this on my mistakable Road to authoritarianism. The Atlas Society appears to be satisfied to discuss the various pros and cons of individual actions by Mr. Trump. I thought they had a better grasp of history and a philosophical base capable of fending off this most evident source of evil. I have been a follower of Ayn Rand for over 65 years. I’m sure she would be astonished by the current apathy displayed by those pretending to support her csuse.
In any case you stand out as an exception Robert and I will be proud to support your effort with a contribution.
Ernie Moffet
What has always stood out to me in your work, Robert, is the courage to remain independent when the cost is high. I know this moment has been difficult, but your willingness to persevere is exactly what makes your voice so valuable. Many of us are grateful that you keep going. Steven
While I share your opinion of Trump's character and intentions, I have a lower opinion of his capabilities and a higher opinion of the capabilities of those who can resist and oppose him than many others do, making me sort of a semi-optimist about the country, at least by comparison. (For example I think it likely that the dread pirate and his crew will strike down the rejection of birthright citizenship, the claim of arbitrary power to impose tariffs, the use of the sedition act to deport illegal aliens, and the capricious firing of a member of the fed.) But that does not matter in the context of what you are doing. It is right, important, needed, and gutsy. After all the fact that some of us are not as worried as you are does not mean we are not worried as hell about some of the stuff that is going on.
Hi, Robert. I'm a longtime subscriber to your newsletter and this looks like a truly valuable piece of work that you're putting together. I'm also a professional voice actor and audiobook narrator. If you are not planning on narrating the audiobook yourself, I'd love to collaborate with you on bringing it to life as a narrator. Let me know if this is a way I can contribute to helping these ideas reach more people.
Here is my page on ACX (the Audiobook Content Exchange).
https://www.acx.com/narrator?p=AQ32NMGW0Q82O
Even if it's not right for this project of yours, I'd love to work with you on any number of your other projects. You have a unique voice in this political-cultural maelstrom, and I'd love to help bring your work to life.
Thanks for the offer! I've got plenty of radio experience, though, and I think I would find it weird to hear my words read in someone else's voice. So I think I'll do it myself.
But I've never done an audiobook before, so I would appreciate advice on formatting--e.g., do you record each chapter as a separate file? What parts of the headers, titles, main title, etc., do you say? (I'm not much of an e-book listener, either, so I don't have a good baseline here.) Reply to any edition of the newsletter to send me an e-mail, or share your experience here in the comments if you're willing.
Sure, no problem. With the books that I've done, generally I produce them as mp3 files using Audacity (or whatever DAW you prefer). I know that ACX/Audible has some audio quality standards that they check for. I would go to their site to get familiar with those even if you don't plan to distribute through them. And, yes, I will have one file per chapter, plus additional files for opening credits, closing credits, acknowledgements, prologue, epilogue, etc. Hope this helps!
Hi Rob, Way to go! I contributed and look forward to receiving the book. Will the book be available on Apple Books and Kindle? Hope so, since many people are like me and really prefer e-books. Your book should go along way with me promoting anti-trump reasoning to my congressman and friends!
Is your solution that all the productive members of the country "Go Galt"? That's my personal plan, and my Galt's Gulch is Canada.
I just donated. Thank you for your remarkable set of skills and your courage to employ them for the betterment of all of us - even your detractors who obviously don't understand just what they are destroying with their blind trust and confidence in this dictator wanna be.
Dictatorship, heh? Yet the Trumpists allow you to PUBLISH a very anti-Trumpian book instead of marching you off to the GULAG - or giving you the ever popular with dictators bullet in the back of the head so beloved by Stalin.
BTW, everything Trump has done passes muster with the U.S. Constitution that combines the Head of State (The King) with the Head of the Government (Prime Minister) as Chief Executive, who also is Commander-In-Chief (CIC) of the U.S. Armed Forces (The Emperor- Latin for "Commander")....
The historical record proves that American Presidents under strong men like Abraham Lincoln or Franklin Roosevelt can author revolutionary changes and command vast armies in wars of conquest of dangerous enemy nations or rebels whose goal is the overthrow or the Republic.
Donald John Trump elected in 2024 by a majority of Americans in the popular vote in our only national election on an agenda of law & order. economic reforms, etc. and is off to a good start in what amounts to a counter revolution to the revolutionary neo-Communist agenda of the Obama and Biden administrations that you supported as examples of "Liberalism."
Let me make a prediction: Trump like Voltaire would agree that though he may disagree with everything you say - he will defend to the death your right to say! So no knock on your door at 3 am in your future, or a one way trip to GITMO.
The First Amendment, heh? Darn pesky thing that U.S. Constitution that allows you to be highly critical of a majority elected and very popular president - and allows me the right to disagree with everything you say.
Anyhow, I enjoy reading your pose and I will buy a copy of your book when it is published.
"Once, when asked for his opinion of Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill mused: “If I regard de Gaulle as a great man? He is selfish, he is arrogant, he believes he is the center of the world. He . . . You are quite right. He is a great man.” Churchill knew whereof he spoke: During World War II, it was he who bore the brunt of the Frenchman’s intransigence."
I cover this in the book, and in my previous article. The attempt to impose dictatorship is incomplete, which is why I can keep writing. But I already know personally of articles that haven't been written because someone with a green card fears retribution. And in the book I discuss reports that Democrats are having trouble getting top-quality law firms to represent them because the law firms are afraid of Trump. Because a dictatorship doesn't get imposed completely and all at once doesn't mean it's not happening. By your logic, there's no way I could warn people until it was already illegal to do so.
I kinda figured you were as up to making like R.E.M. and Document (their weakest effort to that date, and most successful L.P. yet) The Don’s high crimes (Ashli Babbitt still cannot be reached for comment) and misdemeanors (To thee Don white trash Proud Boyz say we salute you…like Grok Elon) against our sacred Republic (if it takes one all day to read your Unpopulist posts, one can only not begin to fathom how you can begin to edit, Trump is right about everything…I kid, I kid parenthetically)
Trump is not a dick tator (hat tip Jonah). He is an Il Duce wannabe Tony Soprano in the flesh…carrying on the family crime tradition…a crony capitalist pig like his father and his father before him…now with the twisted fate of running against Selina Meyer, the Trump Bible Publisher controls the god foresaken reigns and power off the federal government. Good luck with Project 2025. Speaking of R.E.M. Donald J Trump literally thinks he is “[I am Superman and I know what is happening….I am, I am Superman….and I can do ANYTHING!” Gotta run on God help U.S. We the Living in Idiocracy. Thanks for taking my rant R.T. Peace through superior mental firepower
Howard Beale, heh? I liked you in "Network" - especially that scene where he gets his viewers to go to their windows and yell to the pouring rain, "I'm madder than hell and I'm not going to take it any longer."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Beale_(Network)
Interestingly, patriotic Americans were madder than hell at the so-called liberal destruction of the Republic, but instead of going to civil war and the overthrow of the federal government by force of arms, decided to go the legal constitutional route and stood with Trump when he offered his leadership in 2015.
Thanks for the clip I think my chosen sarcastic moniker is already well familiar with the why, what, and where a fictional character was coming from…Hmmmn, if I did not know better, I would have to take a second look to see a detractor of mine is lamenting on my definite anti Trumpism in the American Greatness comments section…but like the whore house that is the Bada Bing, I mean Oval Office, I would never go there until it foresakes everything vile and obscene that Heat Miser has touched his forked tongue, I mean paws with….including what is left of your moral compass Robert. Unlike The Don I do not lie, cheat, steal or tolerate a President of the United States who has lived a misspent life (hat tip Hitch) doing so to get ahead in this world.
I find it most “Interesting”, followed by the words “patriotic Americans” is formulated by a sleight of polemical hands to mean all those that agree with you and the grotesque figurehead pictured at the top of this Tracinski Letter. With all do disrespect to one of his paying subscribers and my interlocutor, I would not be offended in the slightest if you only spoke the truth about The Don and than gave me your opinion…of the ogre. I have zero desire to make fun of you, but when you conflate the sentiments “patriotic American” (which, by definition should be the one that literally swore an oath to our sacred Constitution’ with an fing Il Duce wannabe meets Tony Soprano in the flesh…I gotta wonder if you know the audience to which you are a fellow subscriber…which, corollary, would explain why you literally speak nothing of Tracinski’s actual lamenting about your hero’s complete disregard for our nation’s founding Document or his literal attempt to overthrow the Republic for which it stands because he could not accept the constitutional route, i.e. the results of an election he lost fair and square (Ashli Babbitt still cannot be reached for comment)…and was madder than hell and incited a white trash riot where clowns that call themselves proud boyz attacked our nation’s sacred Capital chanting “HANG MIKE PENCE”…some patriot, I mean hero of yours…and like Tracinski, I will be opposed to him in print and action, and as gracefully oppose you and all the tortured logic of yours as is possible…after all, somewhat in my brain my conscience informs me that you actually believe you are a patriot…just as, to my dismay, you do not realize that when I said, not in jest, but as a statement of fact, if you were in the line of fire your hero would always have your back…because unlike patriots, The Don only cares about what’s good for himself and his disgusting progeny…hence he would shake hands admiringly with a war criminal and mass murderer who criminal government has cost millions of lives and trillions of dollars to defend AGAINST, over the course of The Dons entire life…of which The Don, because he is not a patriot, could give a flyin f about, because, like I said, he is an Il Duce wannabe Tony Soprano…in other words, a book in progress because you cannot see that Donald John (forgive me, could you be a bigger sicko fan, I mean dork speller that out…) Trump is literally a clear and present danger to the Republic you profess to love. Gotta run on. Thanks for taking my rant, you kinda asked for it. And yes, if The Don could get away with squelching Tracinski First Amendment right, The Don already would have…don’t believe me, than look up your heroes own quotes about what he would like to do to his detractors, let alone what he thinks of the Document je swore an oath to uphold. Wait, didn’t I say I gotta run on. That is all. Peace through superior mental firepower