What's interesting about this documentary is Roger Stone makes no excuse or deflection concerning his dirty tricks methods to increase the chances his political candidates will win. He is one of the few operators of his type who owns up to his tactics. His tactics are fairly straightforward. Use any means necessary to win. Ethics and civil discourse have no place in Stone's "world". Among his breed of political operatives is the notion that civility is weakness. That's why he was trying to get Donald Trump to run for 30 years, and he was received his wish. Trump became Stone's racehorse in 2015. But after viewing this film, I had no sense what Stone wanted for the country, only that he wants to win and be famous. He is in my view a "nowhere man", like the Beatles' tragic figure, engaging in his nowhere plans for nobody. He doesn't even have a point of view and knows not where he's going to.
The documentary has an interesting format. It begins with him in the press box watching the Republican National Convention. He watches with intense elation as his dream candidate, Donald Trump, accepts his party's nomination. Interspersed are Stone's "rules", a few of which are most telling. His main one is "It's better to be infamous than to never have been famous at all." Others are of a similar vein: "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack.". The other primary one is "Win at all costs." Stone's main philosophy is to win. But throughout the documentary I never understood what Stone was in fact winning.
It chronicles Stone's rise from his first political maneuver in 1960 during the Kennedy-Nixon election. His school was going to have a mock election in a district which was predominantly Republican. So he told his classmates that Richard Nixon was going to force public school students to attend school on Saturdays. Come election day, the students voted overwhelmingly for John F. Kennedy. It taught him how he could sway the electorate with fabrications. It would also be the last time he would support a Democrat candidate.
Stone and a few others, such as Lee Atwater and later Karl Rove, would develop dirty tricks tactics to help them win elections. Stone was a fervent Reagan supporter and later desired George H.W. Bush to win the White House in 1988. He does in 1988 but in 1992, Bush was under threat from a new party called the Reform Party. Stone calls Pat Buchanan and urges him to run as the nominee for the Reform Party. Stone had no desire to see Buchanan as president. He thought if Buchanan ran, it would discredit the party. But then Stone's plans were thwarted when a much younger Donald Trump made overtures to do the same thing.
One of his earliest "dirty tricks" was to give a campaign contribution to one of Nixon's rivals in 1972, probably either Musky or McGovern. The contribution was supposedly from an organization called the Young Socialist Alliance, a far left-wing group. (The contribution was in fact not from the them, but from Stone.) But Stone took the receipt for the contribution and gave it to the press, hoping Nixon's rival would be painted as a socialist or worse, a communist.
He then meets Roy Cohn, the infamous political operative who assisted Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the communist witch-hunts in the 1950's. He would later help with Reagan's campaign by giving secret money to left-wing political leaders hoping they would run for president. The idea was if they ran against Carter, it would split the party. (Sen. Edward Kennedy did Stone the favor anyway.)
Stone is a sly and shameless operative who will do anything to win. But he also likes press coverage. He was a Trump consultant early on in the 2016 campaign and led rallies of "Lock her up", referring to Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton's supposed illegal behavior. However, eventually Trump fired Stone because he was hugging too much of the candidate's spotlight. Stone claims he quit, but I would give that reality odds of a million to one. Stone was begging Trump to run for nearly 30 years. Why would he jump ship from the campaign he been dying to be a part of? Trump's rational: he had to fire him because he often made it clear there could only be one celebrity among his campaign team. Stone was taking away Trump's press coverage, supposedly. Typical Trump at his best.
Maybe one of the strangest men in modern politics. He wants to win and hit his opponents below the belt. Not just attacking them with fabricated stories but giving secret money to opponents. However, after seeing the documentary, I had no sense of what Stone really wants for the country. There is nothing in his rhetoric which tells me his desires to make a better US. He only wants to aggrandize himself. He "wins" if his candidates win. And in my book, that's neither someone who is famous or infamous. He is a nowhere man, making his nowhere plans, for nobody.
The documentary has an interesting format. It begins with him in the press box watching the Republican National Convention. He watches with intense elation as his dream candidate, Donald Trump, accepts his party's nomination. Interspersed are Stone's "rules", a few of which are most telling. His main one is "It's better to be infamous than to never have been famous at all." Others are of a similar vein: "Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack.". The other primary one is "Win at all costs." Stone's main philosophy is to win. But throughout the documentary I never understood what Stone was in fact winning.
It chronicles Stone's rise from his first political maneuver in 1960 during the Kennedy-Nixon election. His school was going to have a mock election in a district which was predominantly Republican. So he told his classmates that Richard Nixon was going to force public school students to attend school on Saturdays. Come election day, the students voted overwhelmingly for John F. Kennedy. It taught him how he could sway the electorate with fabrications. It would also be the last time he would support a Democrat candidate.
Stone and a few others, such as Lee Atwater and later Karl Rove, would develop dirty tricks tactics to help them win elections. Stone was a fervent Reagan supporter and later desired George H.W. Bush to win the White House in 1988. He does in 1988 but in 1992, Bush was under threat from a new party called the Reform Party. Stone calls Pat Buchanan and urges him to run as the nominee for the Reform Party. Stone had no desire to see Buchanan as president. He thought if Buchanan ran, it would discredit the party. But then Stone's plans were thwarted when a much younger Donald Trump made overtures to do the same thing.
One of his earliest "dirty tricks" was to give a campaign contribution to one of Nixon's rivals in 1972, probably either Musky or McGovern. The contribution was supposedly from an organization called the Young Socialist Alliance, a far left-wing group. (The contribution was in fact not from the them, but from Stone.) But Stone took the receipt for the contribution and gave it to the press, hoping Nixon's rival would be painted as a socialist or worse, a communist.
He then meets Roy Cohn, the infamous political operative who assisted Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the communist witch-hunts in the 1950's. He would later help with Reagan's campaign by giving secret money to left-wing political leaders hoping they would run for president. The idea was if they ran against Carter, it would split the party. (Sen. Edward Kennedy did Stone the favor anyway.)
Stone is a sly and shameless operative who will do anything to win. But he also likes press coverage. He was a Trump consultant early on in the 2016 campaign and led rallies of "Lock her up", referring to Democrat nominee Hillary Clinton's supposed illegal behavior. However, eventually Trump fired Stone because he was hugging too much of the candidate's spotlight. Stone claims he quit, but I would give that reality odds of a million to one. Stone was begging Trump to run for nearly 30 years. Why would he jump ship from the campaign he been dying to be a part of? Trump's rational: he had to fire him because he often made it clear there could only be one celebrity among his campaign team. Stone was taking away Trump's press coverage, supposedly. Typical Trump at his best.
Maybe one of the strangest men in modern politics. He wants to win and hit his opponents below the belt. Not just attacking them with fabricated stories but giving secret money to opponents. However, after seeing the documentary, I had no sense of what Stone really wants for the country. There is nothing in his rhetoric which tells me his desires to make a better US. He only wants to aggrandize himself. He "wins" if his candidates win. And in my book, that's neither someone who is famous or infamous. He is a nowhere man, making his nowhere plans, for nobody.