The more time I spent with Bentley, the more I realized his worldview is rife with contradictions. He denounces America's totalitarian impulses but waxes poetic about foreign strongmen past and present, including Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, and Syria's Bashar al-Assad.
He criticizes most Americans for being checked out. "One of these days, the swords will come out. And on that day, all the people in the United States who were willing to let their government commit war crimes all around the world as long as they can still buy a six-pack and watch the Super Bowl, they're going to get what they deserve," he said.