August 8, 2015

"Mr. Trump fired [his top political adviser] Roger Stone last night."

"We have a tremendously successful campaign and Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity. He has had a number of articles about him recently and Mr. Trump wants to keep the focus of the campaign on how to Make America Great Again."

CNN quotes the Donald Trump campaign, then gives us this from Stone, who says he wasn't fired, he quit:
"Unfortunately, the current controversies involving personalities and provocative media fights have reached such a high volume that it has distracted attention from your platform and overwhelmed your core message. With this current direction of the candidacy, I no longer can remain involved in your campaign... I care about you as a friend and wish you well. Be assured I will continue to be vocal and active in the national debate to ensure our nation does not again turn to the failed and distrusted Bush/Clinton families."
So "Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity," that's the kick in the ass the campaign wants to give to a man who sought a somewhat graceful exit? Well, then, give it to us Roger. Use your moment in the sun and dish the dirt on Donald.

Or... perhaps one of the better candidates is reaching out for Stone.  There are so many candidates, and perhaps Stone is good enough to feel the demand. I don't remember his name, but I see he's been around a while. Here's a Politico article from just before the debate: "Donald Trump’s debate ‘dirty trickster’/Roger Stone is just one of many behind-the-scenes figures to influence the GOP debate." That does have a whiff of Roger-is-using-the-campaign-for-his-own-personal-publicity about it.
Whether game-changing moments emerge on camera and how they play online will depend on a cast of lesser-known characters who have shaped the rules of the forum, worked to influence what the moderators and debaters say on stage, prepped the candidates and have their finger on the button of the social media conversation.
Stone is perhaps the most important of them. He got his start in big-time politics as a college student on Nixon’s Committee to Re-elect the President, and he publicly embraces his image as a dirty trickster, including cooperating with a 2008 New Yorker profile by Jeffrey Toobin titled, “the Dirty Trickster.”

In the profile, Trump calls his once and future adviser a “stone-cold loser” and suggests Eliot Spitzer should have sued Stone for a stunt in which the operative allegedly called Spitzer’s aged father, claimed the elder Spitzer was being investigated for loans made to his son’s political campaigns, and threatened him with arrest if he refused to cooperate with an imaginary subpoena. He has a tattoo of Nixon’s face on his back.

ADDED:

61 comments:

The Bergall said...

I thought of this joke earlier this morning "Trump fires himself over remarks"...

Smilin' Jack said...

He has a tattoo of Nixon’s face on his back.

This is what democracy looks like!

Once written, twice... said...

Republicans continue to be jokes.

robother said...

I might believe the Nixon tattoo is not photoshopped, but that left ear: no way that's real!

Michael K said...

I look forward to his book after the election that is similar to Ed Rolins book about what an idiot Perot was.

Skeptical Voter said...

Well first Trump has to be a Republican before "Republicans continue to be jokes". The issue of his political "ethnicity" or "allegiance" is in grave doubt. We do know that the fellow with a dead raccoon on his head worships at the Church of Donald. Beyond that, his allegiance is obscure.

gspencer said...

No love for Donald as such; just appreciation for his pushing.

From CT Rex in today's HotAir,

"The reality is most people are just looking for a candidate who reflects how they feel, and right now what most people feel is anger, frustration, and resentment. They’re tired of the games and have absolutely had it with political parties and the rich old white guys in Washington running them.

"Trump’s very existence as a political entity is as an expression of that anger. Indeed, anger itself is probably too weak a word. This is not merely some mild irritation with the GOP establishment. His support comes from raw, unadulterated fury directed at all the levers of power that have failed us all again and again and again. After all these years of being lied to, stabbed in the back, and disappointed at every turn, some people have just decided they want the entire structure burned to the ground, and if they have to immolate the whole country to do it? So be it."

rcocean said...

Stone is a loser and a liberal-libertarian. A hired gun. Trump is well rid of him. Lets just hope trump doesn't hire another person like him.

Michael K said...

Does this sound familiar ?

Supporters saw Perot as a nonpolitical and witty "folk hero", but critics described the candidate as "authoritarian"[2] and "short-tempered".[3]

Perot largely financed his own campaign and relied on marketing and wide grassroots support. In certain polls, Perot led the three-way race with Republican nominee George H. W. Bush, the incumbent President, and Governor Bill Clinton of Arkansas, the Democratic nominee. He dropped out in July 1992 amid controversy, but reentered in October, and surpassed the 15% polling threshold to reach his goal of participating in all three presidential debates. Despite an aggressive use of campaign infomercials on prime time network television, his polling numbers never fully recovered from his initial exit.


And Bill Clinton, whom no one had heard if before, was elected.

rcocean said...

Nixon always prided himself on being "pragmatic" unlike those kooks like Reagan. That's why he surrounded himself with guys like John Dean and Leonard Garment.

Of course, when Nixon got in trouble all his "pragmatic" advisers acted pragmatically and jumped ship.

Lewis Wetzel said...

"We have a tremendously successful campaign and Roger wanted to use the campaign for his own personal publicity."
This what economists call a "principal agent problem." Stone was supposed to use the campaign to enhance the value of the Trump brand, not his own. A smart replacement for Stone will realize that Trump's overriding goal of improving the financial value of his brand will allow him to push his own political agenda -- as long as it doesn't conflict with Trump's brand building. See the alliance between Ventura and Barkley for an example of how this works.

mezzrow said...

We will look back on this summer as the good (if unserious) old days before our fecklessness brought us to what will feel like ruin, especially compared to current times.

There will be a cottage industry speculating what went wrong, of course. If we were serious people, by nature, as a nation, this would not be happening this way. Instead, we're just mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore.

Got that. What then? Not sure, but our children and grandchildren will certainly wish they could come back here and kick our collective asses.

Oh well, football season starts soon.

Humperdink said...

From Insty: “Donald Trump has fired Roger Stone, presumably upon realizing that his entire campaign has been an elaborate Roger Stone prank.”

That's hilarious.

Sebastian said...

"They’re tired of the games and have absolutely had it with political parties and the rich old white guys in Washington running them"

Therefore, they support a rich old white guy who does not nothing but play games. There's some Trumpkin logic for you. If they keep it up, they'll get Hillary!, good and hard.

"enhance the value of the Trump brand"

How long before his "empire" implodes? Even a blow-hard buffoon will run out of hot air at some point.

chuck said...

How long does the average reality show last anyway? Can we change the channel?

Michael K said...

This is like a bad dream but, with any luck, it will be over by Christmas. Then the real campaign can get started with some serious people. I am still very unhappy with the ruling class and want to throw the bums out but insanity is not the answer.

Paul said...

So slime1 says he fired slime2 cause slime2 was what? Being a slime?

But slime2 says he quit and was not fired by slime1.

You guys know Trump has gone bankrupt several times, right?

Now you want a crude mouthed man who 'saved' his empire by ripping off investors time after time to be president? You do know, as voters, you will be the 'investors' this time.

Just like Obama he has ZERO experience at government (in fact Obama had MORE experience than Trump at that) and Trump has never been in the military.

He likes to give orders and lectures, but it is obvious he can't take them.

Like I keep saying, he is a used car salesman (but I'm beginning to think I'm insulting the salesmen.)

You will be very unwise to vote for slime1 (nor hire slime2.)

David Begley said...

Stone is a dangerous and erratic character. No surprise Trump hired and fired him.

Achilles said...

If Stone's motivation is to fight the Clinton's then he was helping Trump too long. Trump is so transparently trying to be Perot the 2nd and get another Clinton in the white house.

This is coming from someone, me, who despises the Republican establishment and thinks they are at best retarded and at worst a stalking horse for the wealthy class to divide and destroy the middle class in this country.

Humperdink said...

Once written, twice said: "Republicans continue to be jokes."

If Hillary was my party's choice, I think I'd slink off to a corner if I was you.

Achilles said...

Humperdink said...
Once written, twice said: "Republicans continue to be jokes."

"If Hillary was my party's choice, I think I'd slink off to a corner if I was you."

That is not enough. Hillary stood on coffins of dead services members and told a politically expedient lie about why they died. She knew what was happening as it happened and disgraced herself by intentionally misleading the public and dishonored those people and their families.

If you support Hillary at this point you should accept your dishonor and commit ritual seppuku.

David said...

Stone is an erratic publicity seeking prick. He's also the author of a fairly recent book asserting that LBJ was behind the assassination of JFK. Stone has never held a responsible position that had any major short or long term success. He's personally vain and loves to pick fights to get his name in the paper.

One might say that he is very similar to Trump. The big difference is that Trump has been successful.

Who is telling the truth here? Damned if I know. But Trump put him in the campaign and now Trump has to own the consequences of his bad choice.

el polacko said...

isn't this just the classic "you can't fire me, i quit!" gambit...and who really cares either way ?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

Well that's bound to change nothing. But it's all he knows. When your only tool is a hammer every problem turns into a nail.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"Trump is so transparently trying to be Perot the 2nd and get another Clinton in the white house."

Do you believe there was a meeting whereby it was specifically discussed Trump would run to help Hillary?

And you think Trump trusts the Clintons so much he can repeat over and over Hillary is the worst SOS in our country's history and the Clinton's will be elected and thank Donald for making it all happen per their spoken agreement. The Clinton's won't have Trump on their enemies list according to your viewpoint.

The problem is the media hasn't repeated for you, over and over and over, what Trump has said about Hillary once his campaign ramped up.

You blame Trump for that and think if only you were in charge, by God you would speak in a manner Lincoln spoke of with his "better angels of our nature" and mystic chords of memory talk. Then you could win!

Guildofcannonballs said...

Uncle Milt was correct that conditions need to exist such that bad people have to do the right thing when in office.

Things disrupting the Ruling Class or Washington Cartel or turd-demons spawned from the ugliest, fattest ass to spit his way through the Senate, Ted Kennedy, can breed awesomeness.

Terror too, but I've got nearly 20 Trillion (you've seen that word, Trillion, and you think you know what it is, but you don't) reasons why the discussion needs to tilt toward "uh oh it's all crashing down if we don't stop piling the dead babies on the structure for profit and fancy Italian cars (that wench couldn't have meant Lamborghini tractors could she??) from "hey let's let Ted Kennedy write No Child Left Behind to show we are rational people worthy of dignity." Oh, and let's nominate people who vote against us on the Supreme Court so it doesn't turn into a political branch. God forbid.

traditionalguy said...

Trump is a super skilled communicator of powerful words that leave a mark in minds. The best way to deal with a Trump is to listen to what he said and think. Guessing that he is harsh and confrontational and will therefore lose is missing it by a mile.

He is going to win the people's hearts and minds long before the Bush/Rove Slander Masters
get ready to destroy him. Be happy and watch him win. Then he will appoint Hillary to be FBI Director since she knows where all the corruption can be found.

Guildofcannonballs said...

"And on Saturday, Governor Rick Perry said in a statement to Daily Mail Online that Trump 'has proven once again that he doesn’t have the temperament to hold our nation's highest office.'"

You know the temperament right? Obama has it.

Bill Clinton.

Hillary.

Jeb.

They all have it, and maybe with his glasses Perry has it now too.

He ain't got shit otherwise now does he.


*Reagan didn't have it, he was a crazy bastard wanting with all his evil heart to nuke the Soviet Union (thank God Ted Kennedy agreed to meet with Soviet leaders behind Reagan's back to try and prevent the American Cowboy with Alzheimers and bullet metals in his brain from having been shot) and use his voodoo economics to let Americans decide for themselves how to live without Washington influence undue, even from GREAT MEN like George H. W. Bush and his boy George W. Bush.


Guildofcannonballs said...

Did Jeb Bush order the assassination of Ronald Reagan?

C'mon... you know... you don't really know since you weren't there.

YOU WEREN'T THERE WOMAN.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Let's drop the bullshit a developer in New York in this day and age knows less about politics than Reagan writing his own speeches and going Union Hall to Union Hall advocating his positions.

Trump is no Reagan, because to start no other person is Ronald Reagan than Ronald Reagan, but Trumps knowledge of power and Leftists is vast and born entirely outside all classrooms save his beloved Wharton.

The point is the experience with New York politics costs you an arm and a leg or your whole damn torso.

If it comes out Trump is missing limbs I still support that as evidence he didn't lose his damn torso ergo Trump 2016.

dwick said...

So... since Trump likewise is using his campaign solely for his own personal publicity, this means we can fire Mr Trump?

rcocean said...

Want to drop the Bullshit? This is all about who goes to be nominated to oppose Hillary! - if not Trump then who?

The establishment wants Jeb! - who do you want? Right now, the ONLY alternative is Trump.

Want Jeb! vs. Hillary! - keep attacking Trump and supporting no one else.

MAJMike said...

Lil' Donny gets beat up by a girl and he can't take it. What a wuss.

cubanbob said...

Michael K said...
This is like a bad dream but, with any luck, it will be over by Christmas. Then the real campaign can get started with some serious people. I am still very unhappy with the ruling class and want to throw the bums out but insanity is not the answer.

8/8/15, 3:32 PM"

Well said. My fear is that a country capable of electing a Barack Obama is quite capable of electing a Hillary Clinton.

cubanbob said...

Blogger Michael McClain said...
Lil' Donny gets beat up by a girl and he can't take it. What a wuss.

8/8/15, 7:13 PM

Meaghan Kelly is hot but Trumps current wife is hotter.

Original Mike said...

"Trump is a super skilled communicator of powerful words that leave a mark in minds."

He can't even speak in complete sentences.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

I am surprised by all the Trump hate here on Althouse. He sounds most like two Althouse faves, Limbaugh and Drudge.

Original Mike said...

"I am surprised by all the Trump hate here on Althouse."

I am not surprised at your bafflement.

Sebastian said...

"Trump is a super skilled communicator of powerful words that leave a mark in minds"

Funny stuff. Right up there with "he tells it like it is" and "he has balls."

Anyone who considers him "super skilled" and has his mind "marked" by Trump's "powerful" words deserves Hillary! as president, good and hard.

"I am surprised by all the Trump hate here on Althouse"

Not hate, contempt.

And of course, dismay at the thought that Hill & Bill's amigo may throw the election to them by running third party, selling plenty of kool-aid. Looks like he has takers here.

Theranter said...

"Want to drop the Bullshit? This is all about who goes to be nominated to oppose Hillary! - if not Trump then who?

The establishment wants Jeb! - who do you want? Right now, the ONLY alternative is Trump."

Exactly. You can't win without the crossover vote, and not one single person left of center will vote for Booooosh. So whether I like Jeb or not is not my concern, as I love this country a whole helluva lot more than wanting "my" candidate to win.

Etienne said...

Presbyterians and Catholics shouldn't be on the same team anyway.

Lewis Wetzel said...

ARM wrote-
"I am surprised by all the Trump hate here on Althouse. He sounds most like two Althouse faves, Limbaugh and Drudge."
You ever notice no one on the right asks Limbaugh or Drudge to run for office? Geez. Use your brain, ARM.

Anonymous said...

Blogger AReasonableMan said...
I am surprised by all the Trump hate here on Althouse. He sounds most like two Althouse faves, Limbaugh and Drudge.


The angrier they get, the more they try and insult me and others who support Trump, the more I love it.

I guess that's called Schadenfreude.

Anonymous said...

Blogger Achilles said...
If Stone's motivation is to fight the Clinton's then he was helping Trump too long. Trump is so transparently trying to be Perot the 2nd and get another Clinton in the white house.


I don't believe this is true, but I'm starting to hope it's true.

Then maybe in 2020 the GOP has learned it's lesson. But somehow I doubt it.

Original Mike said...

"I don't believe this is true, but I'm starting to hope it's true.

Then maybe in 2020 the GOP has learned it's lesson."


I heard the same damn thing in 2008. How'd that work out?

averagejoe said...

Geez, wasn't Althouse lecturing us about paying too much attention to Donald Trump just a week or two ago?

Michael K said...

"I am surprised by all the Trump hate here on Althouse."

No, like all lefties you are hoping he says in and runs as a third party like Perot. The Dims have nobody who is not on Social Security,

jr565 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jr565 said...

"Republicans continue to be jokes"
Considering the source, it's not a surprise that you would say that. Actually it's dems that continue to be jokes.
That being said, it wasn't until very recently that Trump was a republican. Prior to that he was a democrat. So no need to tar uswith Trump.
There used to be a time that fiscal conservatives or at least people with a basic understanding of economics could be democrats. If trump jumped ship it's because dems jumped the shark. Now it's socialism all the way down. Dems like Kennedy and even clito wouldn't make it in today's democrat party.
Dems hearken back to Clintons economy forgetting that he ran the economy like a republican.

Now we're stuck with the Donald. But, even here, not really. He threatened that if he didn't get enough support he'd run third party. I'm counting the hours until he does so.

Amadeus 48 said...

The Donald will depart the race as soon as he slips down the rankings. He'll then endorse Hillary on the basis of their old friendship, asserting that "she is a very smart girl, very classy, she'll do a great job", and he'll call the Republican nominee "a total loser, like that silly b***h Maggie Kelly, or whatever name she goes by."
Why should he change now?

Phil 314 said...

I thought Trump WAS the dirty trick!?

Phil 314 said...

Just watched the debate again and was impressed how Walker is the antithesis to Trump.

traditionalguy said...

What ya gonna do if Trump doesn't quit?

The wishful thinking that Trump is a double agent who is about to take a dive is wildly off base.

That is the power of the communicator that can't speak in proper sentences but has taken everyone's total attention. And refuses to surrender to Fox News.

It is Fox News that will wither away still headlining the muttering of Krauthammer and Rove profundities about the way President Trump's tone is all wrong. What a hoot.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Now that Murdoch's minions have shown their true faces I suspect that a lot more people will recognize that this country is being run by the oligarchs for the oligarchs. Koch, Soros, Murdoch have an agenda unrelated to the interests of regular people. Trump challenges that hegemony like no one I have seen before. He will fail ultimately but there will be a lot fewer dupes when he is done.

Amadeus 48 said...

A Reasonable Man who is not so reasonable. Why do you think Trump challenges the iron triangle of Koch, Soros and Murdoch? He is an iron triangle wannabe. By the way, you left out Rockefeller, Ford, Buffet, Gates, Vanderbilt, Gould, Richie Rich and Thurston Howell III. They are all out to get us, ARM, all of them!! Only Trump can save us.

Anonymous said...

Theranter: You can't win without the crossover vote, and not one single person left of center will vote for Booooosh.

The salient point is that many, many persons right of center will not vote for Bush, either. It's funny to watch the Republican True Believers around here going all Thomas Frank on people who, unlike them, have wised up to what the 'pubs are. Usually these True Believers are the first out of the gate condemning "elitists" who "think they know what's good for us", etc. But at the same they're convinced that all those conservative white guys, who just aren't biting, are a bunch of LIV morons just too stupid to understand that they, oh noes!, are going to get Hillary elected.

It's always 1980 or 1992 with these TB clowns, they seem to have no grasp of what's going on under their noses, and Morning in America is just one more FTA and bank de-regulation away, if only we get repubs in office (and convince minority Americans that Dems are the real racists!).

It's always the dumb voters fault (they just aren't good enough for one as beautiful as Bush!), never the Holy Party's. They will never, ever point the finger at the Republican establishment or themselves as the reason why intelligent conservatives have had it with Conservatism, Inc., and asswipes like Obama and Hillary get into office. Trump is a godsend for them - being clownier than the po-faced clowns they support, they can delude themselves for few more years that they're "serious" (seems to be the word-of-the-day around here), and not just the shit-sweepers in a circus.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

They are all out to get us, ARM, all of them!!

Is it genuinely so difficult for you to understand that one economic group could have a different set of interests to another group? Cheap foreign labor and open markets have benefited a surprisingly small slice of the U.S. electorate.

The problem is, that despite being nominally a democracy, only one voice is heard. The behavior of Murdoch's minions should have made that clear to even the most sincere dupe.

Amadeus 48 said...

Anglelyne--Well, I don't see Bush doing that well yet. The GOP certainly has a number of candidates to choose from. I think the winner will have to appeal to a relatively broad group of Americans. Who is your idea of the Republican Establishment that is trying to steer the nomination to the Beautiful Bush? There certainly are a lot of rich guys contributing to Bush, but President John Connelley and President Phil Graham, as well as President Hillary Clinton, who is just leaving office, can tell you it isn't quite that easy.
If the GOP is going to win, they need a standard bearer that has a vision for taking America forward to increasing opportunity and prosperity. I don't think the right person has emerged from the pack yet.
I certainly agree that Trump is about as clowny as they come. He doesn't talk like a billionaire. He talks like a guy who is desperately broke.

Amadeus 48 said...

ARM-- I don't know what the hell you are talking about. All I hear on Fox News is the stress in the GOP on the immigration issue--build a fence, don't reward illegal behavior, don't deport 12 million hard working, law-abiding residents, we need a path to citizenship, another illegal immigrant commits a horrendous murder after failing to be deported five times. What do you hear? What I hear from Dems is you can't build a fence or deport anyone and legalize 'em now, no matter what. Do you think the Dems are on the side of the working man on this?

Anonymous said...

Amadeus 48: Anglelyne--Well, I don't see Bush doing that well yet.

I was invoking Bush more or less as a placeholder. I think what I said goes for any of the other candidates. If Bush limps out the money will just transfer to a more likely vessel.

If the GOP is going to win...

The GOP needs to be burned to the ground. (That would be no great loss for establishment GOPers. They can easily find a place in the other branch of the party, the Democrats.)

...they need a standard bearer that has a vision for taking America forward to increasing opportunity and prosperity.

...and our glorious future as a Latin American-style kleptocracy. 'S okay. For someone with smarts and go, opportunity and great individual prosperity can exist right alongside vast favelas and open sewers. Not to my old-school American taste, but I think my kids and grandkids will do all right in the Glorious New America.

I don't think the right person has emerged from the pack yet.

There is no such person in that pack. Not for what you and I mean by "opportunity and prosperity".

I certainly agree that Trump is about as clowny as they come.

I guess we just disagree about the size of the circus and the number of clowns.

He doesn't talk like a billionaire. He talks like a guy who is desperately broke.

One clown is just as vulgar as the next to me, but I'm a terrible snob.

Anonymous said...

Amadeus 48: ARM-- I don't know what the hell you are talking about. All I hear on Fox News is the stress in the GOP on the immigration issue--build a fence, don't reward illegal behavior, don't deport 12 million hard working, law-abiding residents, we need a path to citizenship, another illegal immigrant commits a horrendous murder after failing to be deported five times. What do you hear?

Remarkable how the GOP is saying exactly the same thing about immigration that they were saying when I turned off the tv and canceled the cable 20 years ago. I'm sure any minute now they'll get around to enforcing immigration law, but I understand that they've been very busy.

What I hear from Dems is you can't build a fence or deport anyone and legalize 'em now, no matter what. Do you think the Dems are on the side of the working man on this?

Judging from your comment, I assume you're too young to know what "Lucy and the football" refers to. How about "good cop, bad cop"? "Kabuki"? None of those ring a bell? So how about "STFU" and "FOAD"? That pretty much covers what both the Rs and the Ds want the American "working man" to do.