Get Me Roger Stone

Slightly above average in style & execution, this doc excels at illustrating how much of a smug, narcissistic, arrogant, hate-filled, spiteful, self-aggrandizing, lying sociopath Roger Stone (&, by extension, Donald Trump) is.

About midway through the documentary, Tucker Carlson asks "Is it more brilliant and impressive to influence world events, or to stand on the periphery of world events and yet get recorded as having influenced world events."

While he was referring specifically to Roger Stone's self-proclaimed crucial role in getting George W. Bush elected in 2000, Carlson's question could apply to almost every major moment in Stone's life.

Unfortunately, the documentary does not question whether Stone is actually a major figure in American politics, but rather, takes Stone at his word that he is. Thus the documentary isn't so much a look at Stone's life as much as it is a look at Stone taking credit for everything - especially the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the Presidency.

Donald Trump is the supporting actor of this documentary, second fiddle to Roger Stone, who is seemingly the mastermind of his entire candidacy. The problem, however, lies in the film's inability to provide much supporting evidence that Stone is really as important as he claims to be.

For example, there are montages which show Stone saying something on a radio show followed by Trump saying the same thing on the campaign trail. But, we are never given much context for these clips. Is Trump repeating Stone or is Stone repeating Trump? Is Stone the only one making these campaign talking points that Trump is repeating, or are others as well? Without context, these lingering ambiguities make it more difficult to conclude that Stone was a major player in the Trump candidacy.

Additionally, Stone is given such an out sized role in the Trump candidacy that other crucial members of the Trump campaign - specifically, Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway - are barely mentioned. And while there is no doubt Trump did associate with Stone, the extent to which Stone helped elect Trump beyond securing the vote of the Alex Jones/InfoWars audience remains questionable.

The documentary is well-made and offers much in the way of flash and bedazzle, primarily due to its flamboyant and outrageous star, but it offers little of actual substance. In a sense, the documentary itself has been co opted by Stone for his own benefit to make sure, as Tucker Carlson said, that he is at least recorded as having influenced world events. Whether he has or not, remains a mystery unexplored by the documentary.

This documentary is a thrilling history lesson that paints Roger Stone for the persona he has created for himself -- a deviling political provocateur whose ruthless appetite for controversy and infamy influences all things he touches, for better or worse.

Whether or not you're a Roger Stone fan, Trump supporter, liberal, conservative, American or otherwise, this documentary is fascinating to watch because Stone is such a unique character in an otherwise boring and mundane facet of society, the American political system.

"Get Me Roger Stone" is essentially a history lesson and mythical propaganda machine at the same time. Is Stone really to blame for all the political scandals he has a hand in? Or is he merely a larger than life figure who happens to revel in his own sense of political clout? The documentary does a pretty good job of letting the viewer come to that conclusion, albeit through an expectantly liberal lens. The editing, production, and musical score always play against (or with, depending on how you look at Stone's persona) the protagonist and while it does not overtly disparage the man, it certainly pulls no punches either.

The only truly atrocious bias in the film comes from the brief clips of Alex Jones's expectedly erratic behavior which aims to align the "racist" "conspiracy theorist" and overall "unstable madman" with Stone's persona. I felt it was a very cheap shot, and while I'm not an Alex Jones supporter in the least, the footage they use is definitely cherry picked to make Stone's association with InfoWars to paint him as a fringe lunatic.

If you watch the documentary carefully, you'll see that Roger Stone is anything but an irrational, crazy, or otherwise unruly brute who has a hand in nearly every political campaign in the past forty years. Instead, he's merely an ingenious machiavellian who will always play the political game as if he has nothing to lose.

As a documentary I'd give it 6.5/10 As a character piece, I'd give it 9/10 Altogether it's a strong 7.

You heard it directly from Roger Stone, he learnt the power of disinformation. If you spread lies and peddle false truths, a number of people will fall for it. We now live in the age of disinformation. 'Social' media is facilitating immediate access to all kinds of information. Back in the day the flow of information was controlled. You had a few mediums and reputable sources got their message out. Not anymore.

Roger Stone was an opportunist who capitalised on people's ignorance and naivety. I had no idea he played a major role in the lobbyist movement which has been so harmful for US politics. Stone showed the scary role he has played in Al Gore's defeat in Florida during the 2000 election and helping elect Trump as president. Again he used the power of disinformation. But in the digital age he was able to peddle all kinds of disinformation to a huge amount of people. Stone has no conscience. He wants to win at any cost, even if its lies through and through. He loves chaos and wanted to disrupt the apple cart. Netflix has produced another decent documentary about a despicable person. Netflix shows that the world would be a much better place without Roger Stone and people like him.

A documentary exploring the life and career of notorious Republican dirty trickster and longtime Trump adviser, Roger Stone, who helped create the real-estate mogul's political career.

As I write this (June 2017), Donald Trump is the president of the United States. Despite polls to the contrary, he won the election and has taken the reins with his unique style of governing. How did this happen? Where did Trump come from? Although Roger Stone has been around since Watergate, his name may not be all that well known beyond those who are into political minutia. Here, we see how he was behind Nixon, Reagan, Trump and more, with a blend of dirty tricks, and conservative libertarianism. How the far right has become mainstream slowly but surely.

I can only wait until the FBI files on Stone someday become public... and then we will see that not only was he involved in much of American political history, but perhaps much of the secret history as well. The last word on Watergate is yet to come.