Political Activists

"Paul Manafort, Roger Stone and I had worked together through the Reagan campaign. When the Reagan campaign got short of cash, [we] decided to start a political consulting firm. Paul Manafort came in one day and said, "You know we ought to start a lobbying firm, because I'm getting a lot of calls from people who all know we work for Reagan and [that we] know the people who are going to be in the Reagan administration, and they want lobbying." So we did."

"He is an expert in stabbing people in the back. That guy's got an incredible capacity for treachery."

"They [Black, Manafort & Stone] elected people. As soon as those people were in office, they turned around and lobbied them. And so they crossed a line that hadn't been crossed. Washington's been worse for it ever since."

"Roger Stone has been Donald Trump's chief political advisor. He planned and ran his presidential campaign. ...His entire business has been dirty tricks, has been lies, has been personal smears."

"[T]he universe seeks balance and order, and Stone’s life of disorder and corruption had to be confronted at some point. .. One of Stone’s favorite quotes? The Joker in Batman. "Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order and everything becomes chaos. I’m an agent of chaos. .. [B]efore , before Paul Manafort, before Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway, Stone along with acolyte laid the groundwork for Trump 2016."

"By 1972, Stone was working for Nixon’s re-election campaign. His official title was scheduler. His real job, he said, was dispatching people to spy on the campaign of Hubert Humphrey, the Democratic nominee. ...He worked for successful presidential campaigns of George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan and later opened a mega-successful Washington lobbying firm with Manafort that included GOP political strategist Lee Atwater. Not only did Black, Manafort & Stone work for Republicans, they also earned a fortune representing brutal dictators... When Trump ran for president in 2016, Stone served for a time as an adviser and knee-capper of Trump critics. ...Stone also became Trump’s ambassador to fringe right figures and bogus conspiracy mongers like Alex Jones, on whose “Info Wars” program he was a frequent guest."

"I googled this guy, Roger Stone, because he looks like he pays black guys to bang his wife, .. And I found out in 1996 he was forced to resign from Bob Dole’s campaign for asking black guys to bang his wife. Not kidding! Look it up!"

"He is... the wicked seed who has poisoned the tree of democracy."

"I wrote a lot about . I started hearing about Roger from people who were close to Roy. ...Roy Cohn is the single most evil person I have ever covered. If that's a magnet for you as a young man, it says you're soulless before you start."

"[H]e's been everywhere dark and ugly in our politics for many, many years. In 2004, he's blamed for forging the documents that destroyed Dan Rather's career and also helped to re-elect President Bush. ...That same year, Stone consulted for Al Sharpton's presidential run that helped disrupt the Democratic primary process. ...A few years later, he took credit for bringing down his nemesis, New York governor Eliot Spitzer. He says he got a tip from a hooker in a sex club. ...Stone's so desperate to stay in the public eye, that he peddles garbage conspiracy theories."

"Stone is a thug who relishes personal insults, character assassination, and offensive Gestapo-like tactics that should be unequivocally dismissed by civil society, most especially those who might give him a platform from which to spew his hatred... He is the David Duke of politics. Those with whom he is affiliated should denounce him in no uncertain terms."

"One problem for reporters relying on Stone for information? He happens to be among the least trustworthy political players. .. Stone has so effectively burnished his reputation for sinister, win-at-all-cost black bag ops that it seems remarkable it has taken so long for him to be at the center of an FBI investigation, suspected of helping the Russians meddle in the presidential election."

"Political trickster Roger Stone who... was involved in tricks such as the "Brooks Brothers Riot," in which he led pro-Bush protestors, disarmingly dressed in suits and ties, loudly claiming the Miami-Dade County election board, which stopped the recount, when the 2000 Bush vs. Gore election outcome was uncertain. Stone has a number of rules: "Lay low, play dumb, keep moving... Nothing is on the level. ...Hate is a stronger motivator than love. ...Use a cut-out [a front-man stand-in so the prominent candidate doesn't have to do the dirty work]." The results... are toxic to the democratic process. Exploiting fears and stirring prejudices are tricks used by those whose ideas lack intrinsic strength to prevail. ...Winning a hand of poker is not on the same scale as winning an election by acts that destroy people's faith in their nation's entire political system's integrity. The trick of putting a man lacking depth perception in the driver's seat of a great nation is bound to have serious consequences."

"Republican operative Roger Stone, who says he is no longer working for Donald Trump... is launching a super PAC to attack leading rivals, particularly Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. ...Mr. Trump has been an outspoken critic of super PACs... Mr. Stone makes a number of accusations against Mr. Trump’s opponents and suggests that Mr. Rubio and rival John Kasich are secretly conspiring... Mr. Trump’s campaign paid Mr. Stone’s firm, Drake Ventures, $20,000 earlier this year... but Mr. Stone says they parted ways over the summer."

"Roger Stone has been Donald Trump's chief political advisor. He planned and ran his presidential campaign, and he's been his hatchet man. He spent forty years as a hatchet man. But not only that, the head of the ', a guy named , is good friends with Donald Trump. ...You know the National Enquirer in its history has never endorsed a candidate, until Donald Trump. ...Donald Trump suggested that David Pecker... should take over Time magazine. Who in their right mind..."

"I asked longtime Donald Trump advisor Roger Stone, who is working on the unofficial "Donald Trump" effort... why Trump would embrace discredited theories about Obama's birth. Stone emails... five reasons: "...4) Personally, I think it is brilliant. It's base building. It gives voice to a concern shared by many on the right. ..." ...[A]n official copy of Obama's birth certificate—the same thing Trump would have to prove his own birth—has been available online for three years."

"[E]arly on I saw myself as living in kind of a bridge between two cultures, the white working class and the white upper class."

"Like Nixon, Stone is... a great hater—of, among others, the Clintons, Karl Rove, and Spitzer."

"He was just nineteen when he played a bit part in the Watergate scandals. He adopted the pseudonym Jason Rainier and made contributions in the name of the to the campaign of Pete McCloskey, who was challenging Nixon for the Republican nomination in 1972. Stone then sent a receipt to the Manchester Union Leader, to “prove” that Nixon’s adversary was a left-wing stooge."

"What made Stone stand out in that tawdry scene was his utter shamelessness. He bragged about being a 19-year-old bit player in the Watergate scandal and about his friendship with , Joe McCarthy’s notorious henchman. Along with his partners, among them Trump adviser Paul Manafort, he engaged in campaign tactics no one else would admit to and took lobbying clients no one else would represent, including murderous foreign dictators. ...Stone was less power player than con artist. ...[H]e was mostly shaking down his clients, who paid him a lot of money based on the largely false impression that he had real influence. He was a bluffer... and a leaker, ratting out his allies in pursuit of his own agenda. ..He would emerge every so often at the center of some bizarre gambit or scandal... publishing preposterous conspiracy books... giving interviews in Miami sex clubs, he was the definition of a marginal political figure. .. For many years, Stone was a lobbyist for Trump’s casino business. He was also the perennial leader of the “Draft Trump” campaign—the person who encouraged Trump’s birther obsession and finally got Trump to run this year. ...[H]e remains a Trump surrogate and dirt-dealer, most recently smearing Khizr Khan as a terrorist and predicting a “bloodbath” if the Democrats try to “steal” the election. Thirty years ago, I called him the state-of-the-art political sleazeball. And I’ve got to hand it to him—in the years since, no one has come close..."

"Stone served as a senior consultant to Bob Dole’s 1996 campaign for President, but that assignment ended in a characteristic conflagration. The National Enquirer, in a story headlined "Top Dole Aide Caught in Group-Sex Ring," reported that the Stones had apparently run personal ads in a magazine called Local Swing Fever. ...Stone claimed that he had been set up by a "very sick individual," but he was forced to resign from Dole’s campaign. Stone acknowledged to me that the ads were authentic. "...the reason I gave a blanket denial was that my grandparents were still alive," he said. "I’m not guilty of hypocrisy. I’m a libertarian and a libertine.""

"Pat Buchanan... seized control of the most successful third party in half a century... Once Buchanan became the party's presidential nominee, he mysteriously disappeared... The saga begins with a baby, allegedly born more than four decades ago... Roger Stone was using... a scandal to undermine Buchanan. Stone, who also spearheaded the pro-Bush mob shutdown of the Miami/Dade recount in 2000... pushed [the illegitimate baby scandal] aggressively on reporters early in the 2000 campaign, then just let it hover over Buchanan... The trail starts in June 1999... "it was Roger’s brilliant idea," recalls Nofziger, "that Pat ought to leave the party and become the candidate of the Reform Party." ...The master of convoluted chaos, double agent Stone has left his mark in the dark alleys of presidential politics since Watergate, but the sacking of the Reform Party may be his lasting legacy."

"Roger was a fringe player around town. He always had this reputation of being a guy who exaggerated things, who pretended he did things. Roger was never on Nixon’s staff, was never on the White House staff. I don’t think you’ll find anyone in the business who trusts him. Roger was always a little rat."

"He was able to use the Democratic teachings on voter turnout and class warfare and turn it against us... He knew what populism was in reverse. He thought like a Democrat and dressed like a plutocrat. He once said to me, "Are you black? Are you Hispanic? Are you gay?" When I said no, he said, "Then why the f— are you a Democrat? You should be with us.""

"In a December 2006 post on the Dark Cavern web site, the couple advertised for a male partner who “must be 22-40, lean, muscular and hung like a horse.” The ad, which included Stone’s Hotmail address, offered a graphic description of Nydia’s body"

"Top Five Firms Receiving the Most Money from the Torturers' Lobby, 1991-1992... Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly) $3.3 [Fees, in Millions from] Nigeria, Kenya, [headed by ], Philippines."

"Black, Manafort & Stone, in their brazeness, really created the modern sleazeball lobbyist."

"Roger is a stone-cold loser... He always tries taking credit for things he never did."

"He's one of the great all-time frauds of American politics... His reputation vastly exceeds his ability. ...His personal effects... rival those of Imelda Marcos. ...In my view, the man's word is no good... Every meeting I've had with the guy, I wanted to wash my hands three times afterwards."

"Stone likes to think of himself as a fixer -- "the next generation's ," in the words of one friend -- and identifies with the modern consultant-as-slick-salesman..."

"He has nicknames within the Republican party: "The Godfather," "The Prince of Darkness." The latter is a name Stone himself likes to repeat. It is, he has told more than one friend, good for his "aura.""

"As a political firm, Black, Manafort represents Democrats and Republicans alike--and sometimes candidates running for the same seat. ...Stone and Atwater's offices are right across the hall from each other, prompting one congressional aide to ask facetiously, "Why have primaries for the nomination? Why not have the candidates go over to Black, Manafort & Stone and argue it out?" Stone and Atwater present a contrast in styles. Stone, who practices the hardball politics he first learned as an aide to convicted Watergate Co-Conspirator ..."

"I launched the idea of Donald J. Trump for President."

"Three of the guys who ran the 1984 Reagan campaign - Charles Black, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone - get a million or so from a Marcos-dominated Philippine business association, and another million from the dictator of Nigeria. At Gray & Co., a one-month job for Japanese politicians to soothe American ire at trade restrictions was run by George Bush's former chief of staff and pulled in a quarter-million. I am not one to knock honest greed, but never has rainmaking seen such moneymaking."

"A lobbyist can perform no greater favor for a lawmaker than to help get him elected. It is the ultimate political IOU, and it can be cashed in again and again. No other firm holds more of this precious currency than the Washington shop known as Black, Manafort. Legally, there are two firms. Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, a lobbying operation... Black, Manafort, Stone & Atwater, a political-consulting firm, has helped elect... powerful... politicians... The partners... say that the lobbying and political-consulting functions are kept separate. ...Charges , president of the public-interest lobbying group : "It's institutionalized conflict of interest." ...The partners charge six-figure fees to lobby and six-figure fees to manage election campaigns. As a result, they take home six-figure salaries. ...They unabashedly peddle their access to the Reagan Administration."

"The partners have been criticized by some fellow consultants for their brand of influence-peddling: first electing clients to office, then lobbying them. The political arm of the organization, formerly Black, Manafort, Stone & Atwater, is now known as Campaign Consultants Inc. ...Corporate clients are willing to pay six-figure fees to ensure the kind of access to top government officials Stone and his partners... like to flaunt."

"I think it's fantastic that Twitter has come out and put a little thing that says 'Russian state affiliated media' behind RT. I think it's fantastic that they put 'Chinese state affiliated media' behind that. Now where the hell is the BBC, CBC and all of the Western ones? Why do we not show that our states fund media as well? [...] We all have the exact same temptation to appeal to where our checks come from."

"I think this is the problem when everything is down to your property, your banking. All of that is so centralized in government hands and control. People know they have nothing they can do, especially when you have a kid. When you have a kid [...] they will have you by the throat. There is nothing you can do. Because any decision you make to try to stand up to what you feel is oppressive horrible government policy is going to affect your child [...] so you're putting them at risk."

"[About her reputation:] [I think] that there is a bit of an unfair retrospect going on here where at that time it was way more controversial to say the things that I was saying than it is now. And if I had waited five years, I don't think I would have had the reputation that I have today whatsoever."

"I saw the other day, it was horrific, they had Russian soldiers in Red Square going through and asking people to see what was on their phone and saying 'We're going to arrest you if you don't show us what's on your phone. [...] Because we need to see if you're posting pro-Ukraine stuff.' Horrific. Unfortunately this happens in the West as well, just people can't see it publically yet."

"You can parlay your short-term connections into making money, but administrations change. That's where Roger is going to end up short, because he doesn't have any real talent. He doesn't have any character. That's why questions have come up about his ethics and his way of doing business. He has to parlay connections to give himself credibility because he has no credibility on his own."

"[The terrifying thing] is that most of the people commenting on this Ukraine crisis couldn't even point Ukraine on a map a month ago. They have no idea of any of the history. They look at it from a cartoon world view: Putin is just bad, and he's bad because he's bad, of course, and if you disagree with that then you're bad."

"Hillary [Clinton] must be brought to justice — arrested, tried, and executed for murder."

"I met Donald in 1979 when I was sent to New York to organize Ronald Reagan's campaign for President. He and his father were members of the Reagan for President finance committee. We became good friends. I was invited to two of his weddings. He attended my wedding in Washington DC. He is very smart, very tough and can be very very funny. He is also very tall."

"Who do you want to be: the spergs and savages who started wars and rubbed blood on their faces; or the reasonable gentlemen who allow the best ideas to win?"

"Even if you hate Russia and want to see it nuked or levelled today, you still need to understand your enemy. You need to understand how they think in order to compete with them."

"[About Aleksandr Dugin:] There are so many people who call him a fascist and it triggers me so much because that just tells me they're talking about Dugin when they haven't even read the first three pages of his book. He hates fascism."

"You can't make fun of anything anymore. Comedy is the last bastion of free speech. Let's try not to kill it."

"and they [the boomers] definitely pranked us fiscally with debt that [we] will never be able to pay off."

""Racism is not the norm in mainstream Western culture or in its institutions: not even close to the norm."