Get Me Roger Stone

It is an important documentary to get background information on the ugly politics business in the U.S.A. when it is voting time. Do we have to thank the film team for this effort? Definitely. But they couldn't have done this without the fundamental trait which is driving Roger Stone in front. His ego which want to be remembered in history and do not want to be forgotten. When his pure ego is getting predominant he gives information away he would definitely deny at another time. With additional intelligence on the consulting company of Roger the movie shows clearly how the Trump voters get fooled by the same people who are pulling the strings since decades. Is Roger Stone entertaining and the movie funny? - Everyone who gets a malicious joy out of the misfortune of other people will find it funny and thrilling and Roger Stone admirable. Others will find the movie educational - it depicts human hubris on large scale.

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.

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.

Roger Stone in one of America's worst people. He started out doing dirty tricks for Nixon; he made his money as a lobbyist for some terrible governments; now he's a confidant of Donald Trump. In a healthy society, Stone (and any politican who worked with him) would be shunned. This account of his story is consistently fascianting, and a tale of much of what has gone wrong with American politics.

And yet, although the documentary is critical in tone, I suspect Stone loves it. A man who revels in his own notoriety, he is given plenty of screen time to speak for himself; while numerous others, friend and foe alike, take turns to testify to his evil genius. For anyone who dislikes the man, there's plenty of grist to the mill here. But how do you shame the shameless? Not, perhaps, by allowing them to star what is essentially a 90 minute promo vehicle. The real tragedy is less that people like Stone exist; but that we allow them to polllute the public space.

Of all the global threats to democracy that swirl around the houses of parliament, congress, and senates everywhere, none is greater than the growing power of lobbyists. They hunt in packs and alone; their activities are shrouded in secrecy; they manipulate political outcomes for profit; and they distort, undermine, and usurp the political rights of the masses who cannot match their resources or their deeply entrenched hold on the levers of power. The excellent, engrossing and chilling bio-documentary Get Me Roger Stone (2017) is both an exposé of this species wherever they exist and an in-depth factual case study of the Darth Vader of American politics: Republican lobbyist and consultant Roger Stone.

While America digs deep to see where Russia got under the fence to influence the 2016 election, people like Roger Stone proudly boast of how they create Presidents out of very ordinary people. Using arms-length documentary techniques, the writers behind this film have gained direct access to a stellar cast of political operatives, including Donald Trump, Paul Manafort, and of course extensive and unrestrained commentary by Roger Stone himself. A shadowy figure centrally involved in political campaigns dating from the Nixon-Watergate era, Roger Stone allows the narrator to ask any question and responds with jaw-dropping arrogance and candour. For example, when asked how he feels about being described as a despicable immoral political trickster he proudly declares "I revel in your hatred". Appearing resplendently in outfits reminiscent of a cashed-up Mafioso or The Riddler, often with a fat cigar and martini, Stone takes obvious delight in explaining how he put George W. Bush in office by demolishing Al Gore's campaign, how he invented the 'birther' campaign that plagued Barack Obama's presidency, and how he manufactured fake news to undermine most of the key Democrat campaigns over past decades.

One of the many remarkable features of this extraordinary documentary is the ease with which it shines light on a species that traditionally burrows only in the dark. It shows admirable restraint in keeping its political biases in check and allows an audience to reflect on what's wrong with commercial lobbying in a free market capitalist economy. The answer is simple. Top echelon lobbyists manipulate the apparatus of democracy to produce undemocratic outcomes. If you wonder how the once-great democracy that was the hallmark of American governance could possibly have descended into the global farce it has become, you need to see this film.