Stone's Rules

How to Win at Politics, Business, and Style

Roger Stone

• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781510740082
• eBook ISBN: 9781510740099
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Biographies
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Rules to live by from the master of political dark arts, as seen in the award-winning documentary Get Me Roger Stone At long last, America's most notorious political operative has released his operating manual!A freedom fighter to his admirers, a dirty trickster to his detractors, the flamboyant, outrageous, articulate, and extraordinarily well-dressed Roger Stone lays out Stone's Rules —the maxims that have governed his legendary career as a campaign operative for four American presidents, from Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump.As a raconteur, pundit, prognosticator, and battle-scarred veteran of America's political wars, Roger Stone shares his lessons on punking liberals and playing the media, gives an inside look at his push to legalize marijuana, details how much "linen" to show at the cuff of an impeccably-cut suit, lays out how and why LBJ orchestrated the murder of JFK, and reveals how to make the truly great marinara sauce that is the foundation of Stone's legendary Sunday Gravy.Along the way, Stone dishes on the "cloak and dagger" nitty-gritty that has guided his own successes and occasional defeats, culminating in the election of the candidate he first pushed for the presidency in 1988, Donald J. Trump.First revealed in the Weekly Standard by Matt Labash and commemorated by CNN's Jeffrey Toobin, the blunt, pointed, and real-world practical Stone's Rules were immortalized in the Netflix smash hit documentary Get Me Roger Stone —part Machiavelli's The Prince, part Sun Tzu's The Art of War, all brought together with a highly-entertaining blend of culinary and sartorial advice from the Jedi Master of political dark arts.From "Attack, attack, attack!" inspired by Winston Churchill, to "Three can keep a secret, if two are dead, " taken from the wall of mob boss Carlos Marcello's headquarters, to Stone's own "It is better to be infamous than to never have been famous at all, " Roger Stone shares with the world all that he's learned from his decades of political jujitsu and life as a maven of high-style. From Stone's Rules for campaign management to the how-to's of an internet mobilization campaign to advice on custom tailoring to the ingredients for the perfect martini from Dick Nixon's (no-longer) secret recipe, Stone has fashioned the truest operating manual for anyone navigating the rough-and-tumble of business, finance, politics, social engagement, family affairs, and life itself.

STONE’S
RULES
PART #7

ROGER’S RULES FOR SURVIVAL

STONE’S
RULE

#114

“COCK YOUR HAT. ANGLES ARE ATTITUDES.”

Frank Sinatra nailed this one.

It’s about the angle of your Homberg. It’s about the knot in your silk Italian scarf. It’s about the right shoes with the right stove-pipe leg jeans. It’s about your pocket square of a paisley silk and a white linen monogrammed handkerchief you carry at all times, folded in a pocket. It’s about the piece of thread that a Savile Row tailor sews into the back of the button hole in your lapel in order to hold the stem of a flower of boutonniere just so. It’s about the ticket pocket on the jacket, the two-inch waist band on the full cut reverse pleated trouser with two-inch cuffs. It’s about black silk knotted cufflinks which work in a pinch with everything. It’s about carefully tying your formal bow tie ever slightly imperfectly, so everyone will know you actually tied it yourself. It’s about knowing what you look good in and wearing it. It’s about developing a uniform in which you know you look your best but also recognizing that to break the rules you must first know what the rules are and prove to be the exception to them. Above all your clothing must have attitude that tells people who you are.

STONE’S
RULE

#115

DICK NIXON’S SILVER BULLETS

Dick Nixon made a mean martini and was quite proud of his martini-mixing skills, calling them “Silver Bullets.” Gin was the old man’s preference, over vodka.

Undoubtedly Nixon honed his mixology skills tending bar at “Nick’s Hamburger Stand,” an impromptu canteen put together by the enterprising Navy lieutenant for war-weary service members passing through Nixon’s post in the South Pacific in World War II. Dick served up booze and burgers. Nixon served at Guadalcanal and later at Green Island as officer in charge of the South Pacific Combat Air Transport Command, supervising C-47 cargo operations. Lieutenant Commander Nixon was legendary for his ability to acquire “hooch” for the boys.

Generally speaking, Nixon was not introspective. He hated to talk about the past, always looking forward instead. It was hard to get him to talk about Ike, McCarthy, JFK, LBJ, and the deep secrets he held close for so many decades. But after two drinks the old man became absolutely loquacious and would reveal astonishing things, cloaked in Nixonian intrigue, of course.

“More than one of these and you want to beat your wife,” Nixon reportedly told his then-26-year-old assistant John P. Sears.

The coolest thing about Nixon’s “Silver Bullet” was that it was borrowed by Nixon from no less a legend than British Prime Minister and wartime leader Winston Churchill.

STONE’S
RULE

#116

DICK NIXON’S SILVER BULLET MARTINI RECIPE.

The Recipe

Ingredients

• One (1) bottle of small to medium sized green olives with pimento

• Dry Vermouth of choice

• Fine Russian vodka (or Tanqueray gin, as Nixon preferred)

Assembly

• Drain the brine from the bottle of olives, leaving olives intact

• Refill olive bottle with water; shake vigorously; drain water completely

• Refill olive bottle with dry Vermouth; refrigerate the bottle

• Chill a traditional martini glass

• Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, preferably a vintage Tiffany hammered silver art deco shaker

• Fill the shaker with vodka (or gin, according to preference) until the ice is covered

• Shake VERY vigorously—if there are not tiny shards of ice floating on the surface of the Silver Bullet, you have not shaken the mixture vigorously enough

• Pour the mixture into the chilled martini glass

• Add one Vermouth-drenched olive from the jar

• Return the Vermouth olive jar to the refrigerator for use with your next Silver Bullet

STONE’S
RULE

#117

IT’S GRAVY, NOT SAUCE.

Igrew up in the Connecticut suburbs of New York City in a working-class family that’s half-Italian. Every Sunday, my mother would rise early to assemble her “Sunday Gravy,” which is what Italian Americans in Philadelphia, much of New Jersey and enclaves of Connecticut called your basic red sauce. The recipe is precise and the specific list of ingredients inviolable, or the entire production is doomed from the start.

The centerpiece ingredients of this Italian American staple are canned imported San Marzano tomatoes. San Marzano is not a brand of tomato, but rather a type of plum tomato from a specific region of Italy. No other canned imported tomatoes will do. Be vigilant about tomatoes labeled “San Marzano Style” tomatoes because such an annotation on the can means someone is selling you fugazi. I repeat: only real San Marzano tomatoes will do.

Now, to the recipe . . . first, take a medium-size yellow onion and dice it. Sauté the onion on a medium flame in olive oil specifically labeled “For Sautéing & Grilling” until translucent.

Take three large cloves of minced garlic and add to the pan. Note: garlic has a lower burning point than onions and should only be added when the onions are translucent, but before they brown. Be careful not to burn the garlic.

Add two cans of whole San Marzano plum tomatoes, including the juice. Using a spatu...

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• INTRODUCTION BY TUCKER CARLSON
• PREFACE BY ROGER STONE
• ENTERING THE ARENA
• FIRST IMPRESSIONS
• GOING ON THE ATTACK
• HOW TO WIN IN POLITICS
• HOW TO STAY ON TOP
• CASHING IN: SEX, MONEY, & NOTORIETY
• ROGER’S RULES FOR SURVIVAL
• STONE’S RULES