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“Get Me Roger Stone” Netflix
documentary 2017
Those still attempting to make sense
of how the country has reached its
current political impasse could hardly
do better than viewing the new Netflix documentary,
Roger Stone
Credit: Wikipedia
Stone, whose career closely tracks the
Republican Party's evolutionary descent from Nixon to Reagan to Trump (sad) appears
first as a ideologically driven Young Republican partisan in the
1970's, then a fervent Reagan campaign staffer and later big-time
Washington consultant/lobbyist in the 1980's and 1990's, and most
recently as a key strategic adviser to Trump's campaign team. With a
history of lobbying for a variety of unsavory foreign governments,
his name has currently appeared in a number of recent investigative
reports and articles delving into the relationship between close
Trump associates and Russian operatives during the 2016 presidential
campaign.
As his public profile has risen, so
has his ego, which the documentary highlights in full graphic
display-- to Stone's evident delight. Like Trump himself, one of
Stone's acknowledged mentors in the darker arts of politics was the
infamous Roy Cohn, Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel and
hatchet man during the Senator's anti-Communist crusade in the
1950's. It was, in fact, Cohn who introduced Stone to Trump in the
early 1980's; and Stone, who later in the decade began urging Trump
to consider running for President.
Central to Stone's 'brand' has been a
mastery of the techniques of negative campaigning, including
character assassination, dirty tricks, disinformation and
behind-the-scenes manipulation of groups, individuals and causes. In
interviews, he is openly and aggressively unapologetic about his
commitment to winning at all cost, using any weapons available.
Unfortunately, his model seems to have been increasingly adopted by
Republican leaders in Washington where policy and public interest
concerns, along with any commitment to bipartisanship or shared
governance have given way to the single-minded goal of defeating and
demeaning the opposition. With no fixed ideology, available to the
highest bidder, and certainly without shame, Stone is the perfect
hired gun and exemplar of the new Trumpian world.
The documentary's chief impact,
however, is its shocking revelation of just how far and how fast we
have come from a world in which at least the ideals and standards of
acceptable political and personal behavior in a democracy were
promoted and proclaimed –if not always followed. What we are
experiencing is not a new normal, but what can best be described as a
'new abnormal' in which 'alternative facts', denial of evidence,
blatant lies, deliberate distortions and a generous admixture of the
politics of fear have effectively undermined a sense of shared
reality and trust in national institutions.
In their effort to win at all cost,
freely employing the politics of personal destruction while demeaning
the very instruments of democracy, Trump, Stone and their enablers
have brought the nation to its current debased level of national
division and crisis. Joe McCarthy and his amanuensis, Roy Cohn, have
very nearly triumphed. While perhaps not explaining fully the shape
of the elephant in the room, “Get Me Roger Stone” is
a timely examination of a significant portion the beast.
Les Adler
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Zerospinzone published the above piece in July, 2017. It now (January 25, 2019) appears that Stone may have pulled a few too many "dirty tricks." He was arrested early this morning at his home in Florida by heavily armed FBI agents and charged with one count of obstructing an official investigation (the House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation), five counts of making false statements to Congress and one count of witness tampering. We'll see how Stone's notorious arrogance holds up in the face of Mueller's notorious diligence.
And today, 11/16/19, we learned that Stone has been found guilty on seven counts, including lying to Congress and witness tampering, and could spend up to twenty years in prison. Of course, it seems almost guaranteed that the man Stone mentored in the darkest political arts, Donald Trump, will pardon him.
Again, you can view the excellent Netflix documentary on Stone here.
-----
If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for email alerts from zerospinzone (right column above).
---
Zerospinzone published the above piece in July, 2017. It now (January 25, 2019) appears that Stone may have pulled a few too many "dirty tricks." He was arrested early this morning at his home in Florida by heavily armed FBI agents and charged with one count of obstructing an official investigation (the House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation), five counts of making false statements to Congress and one count of witness tampering. We'll see how Stone's notorious arrogance holds up in the face of Mueller's notorious diligence.
And today, 11/16/19, we learned that Stone has been found guilty on seven counts, including lying to Congress and witness tampering, and could spend up to twenty years in prison. Of course, it seems almost guaranteed that the man Stone mentored in the darkest political arts, Donald Trump, will pardon him.
Again, you can view the excellent Netflix documentary on Stone here.
-----
If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for email alerts from zerospinzone (right column above).
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