A STORM FORETOLD

First, a little equal time for those running against Donald Trump.  

• Yesterday, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis on CNN town hall events actually, and finally, began to criticize Donald Trump.  But the only remaining primary question is:  Can Haley beat DeSantis in Iowa, and can DeSantis beat Haley in New Hampshire.
• 
  Today, President Joe Biden played his democracy card on a speech at Valley Forge.
• 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
• 149 miles northeast of DC.
• Valley Forge was virtually insignificant in the Revolutionary War, though the park there commemorates the perseverance of George Washington and his forces.
• 
  And, by the way, that painting of Washington Crossing the Delaware on Christmas night in 1776 by German artist Emanuel Leutze is all wrong.
• He never stood, it was too dangerous.
• He looked old in the painting, but was only 44.
• There was no light, the attack was in the middle of the night.
• The crew was all white.
• The flag was not used until six months later.
• 
  But another Trump update.  The Supreme Court today announced that they will on February 8 hear his appeal of the Colorado ruling that he be removed from the state primary ballot.  Of course, with many other states scheduled for a range of rulings, the SC had to do something.  My sense is that the end result will be Trump being allowed to run for the presidency, not necessarily for the 14th amendment reason, but some other more procedural excuse.  Democrats absolutely do want him to run anyway, for that should insure for more Republican Party embarrassment.

I yesterday featured Donald Trump.  Today, Roger Stone, because a new documentary, A Storm Foretold, was released today to play in your neighborhood theater.  Danish film maker Christoffer Guldbrandsen suffered a heart attack during production.  But, who is Roger Stone?

According to USA Today on 21July2022:

No stranger to headlines, Roger Stone has been involved in Republican politics for decades. 

The self-proclaimed "agent provocateur" has served as strategic counsel to GOP candidates dating back to the late 1960s and his cut-throat political tactics earned him a spot as one of president Trump's key advisors. 

Stone played a crucial role in Trump’s 2016 campaign strategy and emerging testimony from the Jan. 6 committee places him at the center of the push to overturn the 2020 election.

He has known Trump for over 30 years, and encourage The Donald to run for office more than 40 years ago.  Stone got a pardon from Trump before he left office.  Early ties link him to Wikileaks and the Watergate scandal, plus he is a self-described "dirty-trickster."  Has on his back a tattoo of President Nixon.

According to Wikipedia, Stone:

• 
  Was born in 1952 to a middle class Catholic family in Connecticut. 
• Is 63 years old.
• Ironically enough, while in elementary school, he played his first dirty political trick by telling people that Nixon was in favor of school on Saturdays.
• While in high school, he manipulated the ouster of the student body president, and succeeded him.
• Volunteered in Barry Goldwater's 1964 campaign.

• 
  While a student at George Washington University in 1972, he invited Jeb Magruder to speak at a Young Republicans Club meeting, asked him for a job with Nixon's re-election committee, got hire, and was on his way.  One of his jobs was to spy on the Democrats, and became Hubert Humphrey's driver.
• When Nixon won, Stone worked in the Office of Economic Opportunity, and when Nixon resigned, Stone joinws Bob Dole, but was fired because columnist Jack Anderson identified Stone as a Nixon dirty trickster.
• In 1976 worked campaigned for Ronald Reagan.
• 
  In 1980 formed a lobby firm with Paul Manafort and Charlie Black.  That's Stone in the middle with Paul Manafort to his right. Some clients were Mobutu Seko of Zaire and Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines.  Represented Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, The Tobacco Institute and Donald Trump.
• The story goes on and on, so you can read the rest here.

There is a 2017 Netflix documentary, Get Me Roger Stone.  

• Not bad Rotten Tomatoes ratings:  88/82.
• One reviewer:

The single most useful insight of Get Me Roger Stone is that men like Stone are driven not so much by ideology as by an overweening thirst for power and celebrity, propelled by absolute antipathy for their enemies.

All that background to get to A Storm Foretold.

• 
  Opens today.
• No Rotten Tomatoes review yet, but, to quote:

USA, January 6, 2021. US congressmen are gathered in parliament at the Capitol about to approve the election result and declare Joe Biden the winner. Less than a mile away, Donald Trump is urging the crowd to march towards the Capitol. A few hours later, 5 people are killed and 141 wounded. With Trump's political godfather, Roger Stone, as its central character, the film documents how Trump's presidential period had to find its logical endpoint with The Storm on the Capitol. The director set out to follow the 'Make America Great Again' movement and ends up a close witness to the historical events at the center of American democracy.

-