Roger Stone presents A Potomac Christmas Carol
Stave 2: Maralardo’s Ghost, and Stave 3: The Spirit of Potomac Christmases Past
″‘Business!’ cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. ‘Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!‘”
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, self-published on December 19, 1843
Donald Trump, Christmas Eve 2022
Merry Christmas to EVERYONE, including the Radical Left Marxists that are trying to destroy our Country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation that is illegally coercing & paying Social and LameStream Media to push for a mentally disabled Democrat over the Brilliant, Clairvoyant, and USA LOVING Donald J. Trump, and, of course, The Department of Injustice, which appointed a Special "Prosecutor" who, together with his wife and family, HATES "Trump" more than any other person on earth. LOVE TO ALL!
[You absolutely cannot make this stuff up.]
A Potomac Christmas Carol
Stave 2: Maralardo’s Ghost
Maralardo was politically dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that.
The register of his demise was signed by the juryman, the clerk, the fingerprint taker and the chief mourner. Stooge sighed. And Stooge’s sigh was good as “cert.,” for there’s ne’er a thing he ever chose to put his John Hancock to. Old Maralardo was a dead as a door-nail.
Stooge knew he was kaputt? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Stooge and he were partners-in-crime for I don’t know how many years.
As to all such matters - from deadly Capitol insurrection to obstruction of Congress - Stooge was Maralardo’s sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend and his sole mourner.
Yes, Stooge and Maralardo were kindred spirits. Since the latter’s long political demise, seven years since that very night, Stooge had not bestowed a thought on his former partner’s high crimes and misdemeanors, right up until a strange presence burst thunderously through Stooge’s heavy door, causing the dying flame of a Dutch-tiled fireplace to leap up, as though it cried “I know him; Maralardo’s Ghost!”
Maralardo, it surely was, his brush-over that unearthly orange, and a clasping, ponderous chain, winding about him like a serpent’s tail, dragging so many secret keys, false ledgers, heavy purses wrought in cold steel, stuffed with the silver of an avaricious grifter, and lock-box upon box, each overflowing with documents, variously marked “USG classified”, “witness pay-offs,” “fake electors” and “photos (save!)” of so many unfortunate women, done and forever undone, subject to undying shame and coerced pledges of perpetual confidentiality.
He, and now his body, so transparent. Stooge had often heard that Maralardo had no heart, but that night even Stooge was a true believer.
Maralardo raised a frightful cry, and the Shade shook its chain with such a dismal and appalling noise that Stooge nearly swooned.
“I wear the chain I forged in life, I made it link by link, and year by year. Of my own free will girded it on, and of my own free will I wore it. It is a ponderous chain!”
“It is required of every man that if the spirit within him does not, in life, go forth to walk with his fellowmen, his shade is doomed to wander the world – oh woe is me! – and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness.”
“Oh, captive, bound, and double ironed,” cried phantom Maralardo, “not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one’s life’s opportunity misused! Yet such was I!
Oh! Such was I!”
“But you were always a good man of business, Donald”, faltered Stooge, who now began to apply this to himself.
“Business!” cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business: charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business.”
“At this time of the year, I suffer the most.”
Stooge was very much dismayed to hear the Spectre going on at this rate, and began to quake exceedingly.
“Hear me!”, cried Maralardo’s Ghost.
“My time is nearly gone.”“I am here to warn you. That you have yet a chance and a hope of escaping my fate. A hope and a chance at my procuring, Roger, my former partner of crimes politiques très grotesques”.
“You will be haunted by three spirits.”
“Without their visits, you cannot hope to shun the path I tread. Expect the first tomorrow, when the bell tolls one.”
“Look to see you see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us.!”
The Spectre raised his hand and became sensible of confused notes in the air; incoherent sounds of lamentation and regret; wailings inexpressibly sorrowful and self-accusatory. The Spectre, after listening for a moment, joined in the mournful dirge; and floated out upon the bleak dark night.
Stooge, desperate in his curiosity, peered out the window.
The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went.
Everyone of them wore chains like Maralardo’s.
Some few were linked together - crime syndicates posing as governments, like Putin’s Russia, Orban’s Hungary and Milei’s Argentina. Bands of chain-bound insurrectionists and reactionaries posing as patriots, like Rhonda-Not-Romney’s RNC, Big Lie/Project 25 Heritage Foundation minions, and that “Clubhouse of Insurrectionists,” ridiculously branded in life as the “Freedom Caucus.”
None were free.
All had been personally well known to Stooge in their lives:
Election deniers Randy Rudy and Gym Jordan. Fake elector schemer J. Eastman. Wacky George Santos. “Burn it all down!” little Leninist Bannon. “Send troops to seize the voting machines” Mike Flynn. “Quickly, burn the documents!” Mark Meadows. Silly Ginny QAnon Thomas. Scornful nativist, Project 25’s S. Miller. “To hell with the rule of law” Scott Perry. His tiny sidekick, “Pick me, pick me, as U.S. AG!” Jeff Clark. Unctuously sanctimonious Speaker Mike. Forever prostrating Senators Cruz and Graham. And, of course, contumacious EagleEye Cleta Mitchell, like the others, a fatally rabid election denier and Spectre enabler to the very end.
Restlessly moaning, ever-spinning, shades all!
These shades now crying piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom they saw below, upon a dark, lonely city door-step.
Stooge closed the window, and examined the door by which the Ghost had entered. It was double-locked and the bolts undisturbed. He tried to say “Humbug” but stopped at the first syllable. He went straight to bed, without undressing, and fell asleep on the instant.
The mention of Maralardo’s demise brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt, Maralardo was politically dead. This must be distinctly understood or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate.
*****
Stave 3: The Spirit of Potomac Christmases Past
The next day, Stooge still fast asleep, the bell tolls one.
The Spirit of Potomac Christmases Past appears, declaring to Stooge the purpose of this visit - nothing less than Stooge’s welfare and reclamation. “Rise and walk with me”.
All too well acquainted with Stooge’s tiresome tirade of youthful political pranks, Watergate apprenticeship, and on-demand lobbying services for murderous autocrats, the Spirit makes a beeline for the Potomac, live-streaming from Stooge’s political past truly inspiring presidential reflections on the true promise of Christmas and our cherished American Republic.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1947
Looking into the days to come, I have set aside a day of prayer, and in that Proclamation I have said:
"The year 1941 has brought upon our Nation a war of aggression by powers dominated by arrogant rulers whose selfish purpose is to destroy free institutions. They would thereby take from the freedom-loving peoples of the earth the hard-won liberties gained over many centuries.
"The new year of 1942 calls for the courage and the resolution of old and young to help to win a world struggle in order that we may preserve all we hold dear.
"We are confident in our devotion to country, in our love of freedom, in our inheritance of courage. But our strength, as the strength of all men everywhere, is of greater avail as God upholds us.
. . .
Our strongest weapon in this war is that conviction of the dignity and brotherhood of man which Christmas Day signifies - more than any other day or any other symbol.
Against enemies who preach the principles of hate and practice them, we set our faith in human love and in God's care for us and all men everywhere.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/christmas-eve-message-the-nation
Harry S. Truman, 1947
For many of our brethren in Europe and Asia this too will be a homeless Christmas. There can be little happiness for those who will keep another Christmas in poverty and exile and in separation from their loved ones. As we prepare to celebrate our Christmas this year in a land of plenty, we would be heartless indeed if we were indifferent to the plight of less fortunate peoples overseas.
In extending aid to our less fortunate brothers we are developing in their hearts the return of “hope.” Because of our forts, the people of other lands see the advent of a new day in which they can lead lives free from the harrowing fear of starvation and want.
With the return of hope to these peoples will come renewed faith—faith in the dignity of the individual and the brotherhood of man.
The world grows old but the spirit of Christmas is ever young.
Happily for all mankind, the spirit of Christmas survives travail and suffering because it fills us with hope of better things to come.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958
This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one. Through this unique means, I convey to you and all mankind America’s wish for peace on earth and good will to men everywhere.
Note: Before 1958, space was very quiet. On December 18, 1958, the Air Force placed the first communications satellite, a Project SCORE relay vehicle, into orbit. And then, on December 19, the sound of the a human voice was transmitted through space. It was the voice of President Eisenhower, broadcasting a message of peace to the world below.
John F. Kennedy, 1962
We mark the festival of Christmas which is the most sacred and hopeful day in our civilization. For nearly 2,000 years the message of Christmas, the message of peace and good will towards all men, has been the guiding star of our endeavors.
This morning I had a meeting at the White House which included some of our representatives from far off countries in Africa and Asia. They were returning to their posts for the Christmas holidays. Talking with them afterwards, I was struck by the fact that in the far off continents Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, as well as Christians, pause from their labors on the 25th day of December to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Peace. There could be no more striking proof that Christmas is truly the universal holiday of all men. It is the day when all of us dedicate our thoughts to others; when all are reminded that mercy and compassion are the enduring virtues; when all show, by small deeds and large and by acts, that it is more blessed to give than to receive.
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/president-kennedys-christmas-peace-message-still-speaks-williams
Lyndon B. Johnson, 1963
On this same occasion 30 years ago, at the close of another troubled year in our Nation's history, a great President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, said to his countrymen, "To more and more of us the words 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself' have taken on a meaning that is showing itself and proving itself in our purposes and in our daily lives."
I believe that this is no less true for all of us in all of our regions of our land today.
There is a turning away from things which are false and things which are small, and things which are shallow.
There is a turning toward those things which are true, those things which are profound, and those things which are eternal. We can, we do, live tonight in new hope and new confidence and new faith in ourselves and in what we can do together through the future.
Our need for such faith was never greater, for we are the heirs of a great trust. In these last 200 years we have guided the building of our Nation and our society by those principles and precepts brought to earth nearly 2,000 years ago on that first Christmas.
We have our faults and we have our failings, as any mortal society must. But when sorrow befell us, we learned anew how great is the trust and how close is the kinship that mankind feels for us, and most of all, that we feel for each other. We must remember, and we must never forget, that the hopes and the fears of all the years rest with us, as with no other people in all history. We shall keep that trust working, as always we have worked, for peace on earth and good will among men.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-the-lighting-the-nations-christmas-tree-3
Richard M. Nixon, August 8, 1974
Have a merry Christmas, fellas!
Note: Richard Nixon had just finished his resignation speech to the nation from behind the desk in the Oval Office. He read it out from loose sheets of paper, which he shuffled and stacked repeatedly before the cameras went live. He was now a living, breathing blot on American history. Then he got up from the desk and walked by the CBS camera crew. It was forty years ago August 8, another hot day in the nation’s swampy capital. “Have a merry Christmas, fellas!” he said to cap the absurd and sad affair as he strode out of the room.
https://www.coloradoindependent.com/2014/08/12/nixons-parting-shot-have-a-merry-christmas-fellas/
Jimmy Carter, 1977
Our country has been especially blessed throughout our history. In this season of hope we seek, as individuals and as a nation, to serve as instruments to bring the ancient promises of peace and good will closer to fulfillment for all the peoples of the earth.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/christmas-1977-message-the-president
Ronald Reagan, 1983
Won't all of you join with Nancy and me in a prayer for peace and good will. May a feeling of love and cheer fill the hearts of everyone throughout this holiday season and in the coming year.
https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/christmas-message
George H.W. Bush, 1991
Blessed with an unparalleled degree of freedom and security, generations of Americans have been able to celebrate Christmas with open joy. Tragically, that has not always been the case in other nations, but we look to the future with optimism, and we celebrate the holidays with special gladness as courageous peoples around the world continue to claim the civil and religious liberty to which all people are heirs. The triumph of democratic ideals and the lessening of global tensions give us added reason for celebration this Christmas season, and as the world community draws closer together, the wisdom of Christ's counsel to "love thy neighbor as thyself" grows clearer.
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/message-the-observance-christmas-0
Bill Clinton, 1999
Love, peace, joy, hope -- so many beautiful words are woven through our Christmas songs and prayers and traditions. As we celebrate this last Christmas of the 20th century, let us resolve to build a future where all people learn to love one another and to live together in harmony; where our children know true joy; and where our hopes for peace, freedom, and prosperity for all are finally realized.
George W. Bush, 2001
This year in the midst of extraordinary times, our Nation has shown the world that though there is great evil, there is a greater good. Americans have given of themselves, sacrificing to help others and showing the sprit of love and sharing that is so much a part of the Christmas season.
Barak Obama. 2016
Along with celebrations like these, the holidays also offer us a time for reflection and perspective. And over these next few weeks, as we celebrate the birth of our Savior, as we retell the story of weary travelers, a star, shepherds, Magi, I hope that we also focus ourselves on the message that this child brought to this Earth some 2,000 years ago -- a message that says we have to be our brother’s keepers, our sister’s keepers; that we have to reach out to each other, to forgive each other. To let the light of our good deeds shine for all. To care for the sick, and the hungry, and the downtrodden. And of course, to love one another, even our enemies, and treat one another the way we would want to be treated ourselves.
It’s a message that grounds not just my family’s Christian faith but that of Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, non-believers -- Americans of all backgrounds. It’s a message of unity and a message of decency and a message of hope that never goes out of style. And it’s one that we all need very much today.
Joe Biden, 2022
So my hope this Christmas season is that we take a few moments of quiet reflection and find that stillness in the heart of Christmas — that’s at the heart of Christmas, and look — really look at each other, not as Democrats or Republicans, not as members of “Team Red” or “Team Blue,” but as who we really are: fellow Americans. Fellow human beings worthy of being treated with dignity and respect.
I sincerely hope this this holiday season will drain the poison that has infected our politics and set us against one another.
I hope this Christmas season marks a fresh start for our nation, because there is so much that unites us as Americans, so much more that unites us than divides us.
We’re truly blessed to live in this nation.
*****
“Spirit!” cried out Stooge, struck deadly cold by the stark contrast of such inspiring presidential leadership with Stooge’s vivid recollections of very, very sad présidente Maralardo and of Stone’s own sadly toady life, one he so callously devoted to stoking bitter division and violence among his fellow Americans.
“What have I done?”
Stooge, an-honest-to-God son of a loving PTA mom and devoted volunteer fire chief dad, descended from patriotic immigrants from Eastern and Western Europe, betrothed (the second time around) to a freedom-loving Cubana, trembled in fear and self-loathing.
“Remove me, Spirit, from this place! I cannot bear it!”
“Leave me! Take me back! Haunt me no longer!”
A bright light, from which Stooge was unable to escape despite all efforts, streamed over Stooge.
Suddenly he found himself once again in his own room, barely having time to reel into his own bed, before he sank into a heavy sleep.
*****
Next on Christmas Cheer with Roger Stone (E4):
A Potomac Christmas Carol, Stave 4, The Spirit of Christmas Future
*****
Here’s your morning shot of Blackjack, with a Card Deck of 54+ Trump Enablers:
https://www.defendyourvotingrights.org/play-card-game/
and Card Deck of 54+ Enablers of the Big Lie of Election Fraud (including our most recent Joker, House Speaker Mike Johnson)
https://www.defendyourvotingrights.org/54-enablers-of-voter-suppression/