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Roger Stone Documentary Filmmaker, Morgan Pehme, Linked to Trump Russian Collusion Story

Get Me Roger Stone Documentary is Now Real News

by HelenHighly
Morgan Pehme, filmmaker
Morgan Pehme, filmmaker

The lines have long been blurred between art and life, news and entertainment, even good and evil. Enter Donald Trump. Well, that’s obvious. But how about… Enter Donald Trump trailing behind Roger Stone? Okay, that’s been reported. And a documentary was even released in 2017, which touched on the Stone-Trump relationship, and I reviewed that documentary, which blurred my lines between fascination and fear. I told the potential viewing audience to “Get your hate on!” with this film. Get Me Roger Stone, directed by Morgan PehmeDylan Bank, and Daniel DiMauro, debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival  in 2017 – a breaking news story waiting to happen, but camouflaged innocuously between the other “politically timely” documentaries.

And now that story has truly broken wide open, as filmmaker Morgan Pehme is testifying to serious news outlets about the all-too-relevant relationship that he was privy to while making his film. Suddenly our filmmaker has become a witness to a potential crime – not the inside scoop on a bank robbery or a murder, or anything as “small” as that; the Get Me Roger Stone filmmaker may have key evidence in the national-nightmare investigation into Russia Collusion – the treasonous offense that many speculate could be the downfall of President Trump.

Roger Stone and Donald Trump pre-scandal
Roger Stone and Donald Trump pre-scandal

What Pehme heard and saw while filming his Roger Stone documentary may be shedding light on the shadowy relationship between Trump’s campaign advisor Roger Stone and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, helping to connect the dots between Trump, Stone, Assange, Wikileaks, Cambridge Analytica, Paul Manafort and the Kremlin. Is it all a conspiracy theory? Well, it may be, and if it is, it will delight the spotlight-loving Roger Stone all the more.

It’s a good time to re-read this film review and maybe re-watch that movie on Netflix.

But first, scan through this series of news stories that provide new context and bring the documentary into sharper focus:

  • Back in 2017, the Hollywood Reporter revealed  that Get Me Roger Stone Directors Not Surprised by Manafort Indictment.” Click here to read about it. 
  • On 3/13/2018 Politico wrote, “Roger Stone tried to meet with Assange, documentary producer says”:

“Roger Stone was attempting to meet with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in the summer of 2016, a producer for Get Me Roger Stone said on Tuesday. Morgan Pehme, a producer for the documentary, said on MSNBC that during an interview with Stone for the documentary, the then-informal Trump adviser “was trying to meet with Julian Assange.” Pehme went on to say, “We don’t know if it was successful.’

"Get Me Roger Stone" is in the news.
“Get Me Roger Stone” is in the news.

“The Washington Post first reported that Stone interacted with Assange. Stone, in the spring of 2016. said he heard from Assange that Wikileaks had obtained emails that would distress top Democrats, including Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, according to the Post.” Click to read the full story.

  • On 3/20/2018, Politico wrote: “’Glad to see Cambridge Analytica whistleblower is willing to testify,’ Schiff tweeted, referencing news that former Cambridge employee Christopher Wylie was willing to speak with the panel’s Democrats. ‘Recent revelations about Erik Prince, Roger Stone and Cambridge Analytica illustrate how GOP decision to shut down their investigation abdicated their oversight responsibilities to country. But our work goes on’.” Click here to read the full article
  • On 4/42018 CNN writes, “Stone, on day he sent Assange dinner email, also said ‘devastating’ WikiLeaks were forthcoming.” Click to read the article.
  • On 4/7/2018 Roger Stone warned that “it would be very dangerous for Trump to meet with Mueller,” suggesting that he had inside information that gave him special insight. Click to read.
  • On April 23rd, there was this: Roger Stone, a former top Trump advisor, is named in the DNC’s lawsuit alleging collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, along with Jared Kushner, Donald Trump Jr., WikiLeaks, Guccifer 2.0, and more. Click for the video.

And NOW you should really take a fresh look at my article and watch that all-the-more-outrageous Get Me Roger Stone movie.

 

 

 

“Get Me Roger Stone” Film Review: Get Your Hate On!

Get Me Roger Stone: Get Your Hate On!

by HelenHighly

Hey, all you angry progressive liberals, this is your film – to engage your rage. Hey, all you angry lovers of noble and decent democracy, this is your film – to reinforce your sense of injustice. Hey all you morally conscious idealists who imagine a level political field and fair play, get ready to get your hate on! And ALSO all you Republicans, and Libertarians, and you stubborn Trump-defenders: this film is full of quotable, self-satisfying defenses sure to infuriate your naïve, liberal friends who love to hate on you. There is something for every political animal in this movie. And animal may be the key word in that sentence. Because Get Me Roger Stone, a documentary directed by Morgan PehmeDylan Bank, and Daniel DiMauro,  explores the ruthless beast of modern American politics (and its vicious political operatives, especially the notorious Roger Stone). And yet it’s also a bit of a fun romp. The film’s world premier is at the Tribeca 2017 Film Festival, and it debuts May 12 on Netflix.

BIG NEWS 2018 (click): Get Me Roger Stone Documentary Filmmaker Linked to Trump Russian Collusion Story

Roger Stone in GET ME ROGER STONE. Photo credit: Barbara Nitke/Netflix.

Calling Roger Stone a scoundrel would be like calling the Dalai Lama a nice guy. But be careful before you start getting outraged, because this guy LOVES to be hated. The film begins with Donald Trump giving his acceptance speak at the Republican National Convention (a scary-dark speech, according to many), where he assured America that only he alone could fix what was broken with the system. (“The American Dream is dead. But I will bring it back.”) And there is a shot of Roger Stone, sitting in the shadowy stage wings, watching, with a self-satisfied smile. Donald Trump has never seemed so naïve. After watching this movie, you actually might feel sorry for him. You think Trump was Putin’s puppet? Roger Stone insists he was the puppet master.

That’s what is “fun” about this film. It’s made by guys who Stone himself mocks as “liberal

roger stone tux
Roger Stone is a Roger Stone production.

filmmakers who can’t be trusted,” even as he cheerfully allows them to follow him around, and he sits down (posed theatrically beside a martini) and “confesses” all his delightfully evil doings. “I was a jockey looking for a horse,” Stone says, “and Trump was a prime piece of horseflesh.” Ouch. No wonder Trump finally fired him. Trump doesn’t like to be upstaged, and Roger Stone could steal the screen from Jack Nicholson and Robert Deniro combined. Someone in the film calls Stone a “bodybuilding dandy,” and that’s the least of it. Roger Stone puts the sin in sinister. (For a comprehensive guide to all of Roger Stone’s egregious acts, click here.)

In the film, we learn of Roger Stone’s associations with the likes of Richard Nixon, Ronald

Roger Stone's tattoo of Nixon
Roger Stone’s tattoo of Nixon

Reagan, Alex Jones, Paul Manafort and even the almost-iconic Roy Cohen, whose name is “synonymous with demagoguery, fear mongering, and intimidation.” Cohen was once Trump’s lawyer, btw, and he’s the one who introduced Stone to Trump. It was a match made in … heaven. (Stone would lobby for “hell,” just to increase the drama, but he personally is in paradise as the center of this movie.) He himself says, “Better to be infamous than never famous at all.” And someone else explains, “Roger Stone was a pure Roger Stone production.”

In the film, we hear Roger Stone called, “a sleaze ball,” a “malevolent Forrest Gump,” “evil,” soulless,” “reprehensible,” the original “dirty trickster,” “crazy and wrong and racist,” – all from respectable mouths. And every accusation is demonstrated and validated with rock-solid evidence from recent political history, including direct acknowledgements from some of his co-conspirators. And Stone is entirely unapologetic. Roger himself seems to delight in detailing his own, dark and nefarious power-plays. Its almost like he’s using this expose’ to further fuel his own mythology.

Still, there is no getting around what a truly malignant cancer this man’s life has been, and the serious damage he has done to America (even if you voted for Donald Trump). And this movie succinctly covers the timeline from when the Republican Party was known for its Eisenhower-esque straight-laced earnestness to the “new alt-right,” who fights dirty in order to win at all costs, and who believes that “morality is a synonym for weakness” and deserving of contempt. And there is Roger Stone, a part of every step along that vile timeline, loving you for hating him for personally forging that trail, or so he wants you to believe. It is highly likely, or at least quite possible, that Roger was a mere leech, clinging to and sucking the blood from a much larger beast. Or, if he’s right (and he has a successful track record to boost his credibility), he’s a genius and we’re his lucky sucker-beneficiaries. I am reminded, for some reason, of Bob Dylan’s famous line:

“Everybody must get Stoned!”

In this film, Bob Dylan gets his wish. But overall, it’s a grim reality, and frightening, if you stop to think about it, and these filmmakers manage to make it watchable by playing on its inherent Hollywood charisma, which was of course crafted by Roger Stone himself. It’s a political documentary operating as a horror film (or is it the other way around?) And you even get to hear Roger enumerate what he has defined as the Four Stages of Fame, as well as his list of Roger’s Rules. And if you are at all holding onto any hope that the worst of Donald Trump were “misstatements” by him or “fake news” by others, it’s definitely worth watching this film that will very logically and convincingly cut away any sense of faith or hope that you have.

Trump with Young Stone and Old Stone
Trump with Young Stone and Old Stone

Not really worth paying $17 or more to see in the movie theater (as you’ve seen much of it play out recently on the TV news), but definitely watchable on Netflix. Have some booze handy, to help numb the pain, but I promise you that this film tells the story of a train wreck from which you will not look away. There are no suggestions for remedying the problem, only a bleak-to-the-point-of-absurdity view of the sad state of our union. At the least, it will give you lots of topics to talk about at the water cooler.


It’s not over yet. In today’s New Yorker, regular contributor Jeffrey Toobin, who is also interviewed extensively in the film Get Me Roger Stone, and contributes some of the most amusing comments, now writes a detailed article about the film and the Stone-Trump-Nixon connection. Helen’s review is Highly impulsive, but if you want the nitty-gritty from an insider expert, click here to check out Toobin’s article.

BIG NEWS 2018 (click): Get Me Roger Stone Documentary Filmmaker Linked to Trump Russian Collusion Story