Although the late Republican Party consultant Arthur J. Finkelstein was little known in his native US, his spectacular kingmaking powers had played a major role in the rise of right-wing populism around the world over the last two decades. In 1968, aged just 23, he helped Richard Nixon get elected, and later masterminded the equally stunning victories of Ronald Reagan in 1980, Viktor Orbán in 2010 and Benjamin Netanyahu in May 1996, a mere few months after the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Finkelstein’s ability to manipulate public opinion and the media – using it to advance his clients’ political careers while zealously protecting his privacy – however, could not stop the leaks about his long term same-sex relationship in the 1990s.
Attempting to square Finkelstein’s gay, urban and Jewish identity with the views of the politicians he chose to work with, this fascinating film sheds light on a life full of mind-boggling, moral contradictions.