Stone - Stone’s rules : how to win at politics, business, and style

Copyright 2018 by Roger Stone

Foreword Copyright 2018 by Tucker Carlson

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Brian Peterson

Cover photo credit Business Insider

ISBN: 978-1-5107-4008-2

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4009-9

Printed in the United States of America

To Nydia Bertran Stone: my lifes partner who has suffered my enthusiasms, shared my victories, and given solace in my defeats.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievement and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

By Tucker Carlson

P eople often accuse the media of having an agenda, and in some ways theyre right. Most journalists are conventional liberals, and the coverage often reflects that. But outright manipulation of content? Ive rarely seen it. In fact, in more than two decades of working in the news and opinion business, I can think of only a single time Ive been censored outright. It was the day a network executive forbade me to interview the author of this book.

Just so you know, he said, the problem isnt that Roger Stone is conservative. We have conservatives on all the time. OK, I said, then what is the problem? Well, the executive conceded, Stone does know everything about politics. And he is famous. And articulate. And entertaining. But you still cant have him on.

Huh?

It was obvious I was never going to get a straight answer, mostly because there wasnt one. The executive obviously liked and respected Rogerhe told me so in hushed tonesbut for reasons he couldnt quite articulate, he worried that booking him would somehow bring trouble to the network. Like many in the upper reaches of media, business and government, this executive stood in fear and trembling before the legend of Roger Stone.

And for good reason: Roger Stone is a troublemakerindeed, not just a troublemaker, but perhaps the premier troublemaker of our time, the Michael Jordan of electoral mischief. This is either terrifying or delightful, depending on your uptightness level. I love it. Television executives dont. Thats the difference.

But Roger Stone is more that just the most colorful political operative in America, a man who for thirty years has blurred the line between high-level consulting and performance art. He is also wise, as youll learn in the following pages.

From his early years with Richard Nixon, to his work subverting democracy during the 2000 Florida recount, Roger has been paying keen attention to the human drama and drawing lessons from it. Psychology, business, power, partisanship, food, fashionhe has deep insights into all of it, and equally deep convictions.

Cufflinks should be small, betrayals should be avenged, and political debts should be paid. And under no circumstances should your pocket square ever match your necktie, on pain of death. Thats Rogers advice, or the beginning of it.

If youve been to the self-help section of your local bookstore lately, you know there are almost as many guides to life as there are people looking for guidance in life. Yet, crack the cover of any of them and youll recognize the same recurring themes: stop struggling; accept yourself; be who you are. Robert Fulgham, Rick Warren, and Deepak Chopra may come from three distinct religious traditions, but all wind up at the same destination, floating peacefully in the soothing waters of Lake Me.

Not Roger. His counsel is earthier, more outwardly focused, and probably more honest. Here, for example, is Roger on forgiveness: I will often wait years to take my revenge, hiding in the tall grass, my stiletto at the ready, waiting patiently until you think I have forgotten or forgiven a past slight and then, when you least expect it, I will spring from the underbrush and plunge a dagger up under your ribcage.

It turns out that everything you needed to know was not covered in kindergarten.

I could go on, from memory, but youve got rules to read. Roger and I disagree on pleated trousers, but other than that, hes on the level. Enjoy.

Tucker Carlson

PREFACE

F or thirty years I have been on the front line of American presidential politics, serving eight national Republican presidential candidates. I have engineered the elections of senators and governors.

In the business world, I have assisted multi-billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions. I have solved complex public relations and political problems for corporations, pro-Western foreign governments, trade associations, and wealthy individuals.

Over my many years as a consummate political animal I:

Spent untold hours talking politics and learning political tactics from Richard Nixon, whose presence on six presidential ballots nationwide is surpassed only by Franklin Roosevelt;

Served as a traveling aide for the great American patriot, Senator Bob Doledriving him while he was in Washington D.C, cutting up his meat, and occasionally helping him with a collar button (Doles courage and persistence allowed him to overcome the grave battlefield injuries he suffered when hit by a German shell in Italy);

Regularly briefed and prepped Ronald Reagan while organizing his Presidential campaigns in 1976, 1980, and 1984;

Targeted ethnic Catholic Democrats for the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984;

Was sent on a mission in 1988 by James Baker that allowed George H. W. Bush to beat Mike Dukakis in California by one point.

My efforts resulted in toppling corrupt New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was using the services of multiple call girl rings while prosecuting others for prostitution. Spitzer funded his early political career with an illegal loan from his billionaire father and then perjured himself in a civil suit filed by his disgruntled Democratic primary competitors.