Sam Nunberg goes dark on Tuesday after his spectacular media meltdown

[DonViejo]

Source: CNN




by Brian Stelter @brianstelter
March 6, 2018: 10:49 AM ET

Sam Nunberg's interview tour is over for now.

Nunberg was booked to appear on CNN's "New Day" on Tuesday morning, but he did not show up for the interview.

When an unknown person answered the phone at his home Tuesday morning, the person said Nunberg is done doing interviews.

According to two sources with knowledge of the matter, ABC also pursued Nunberg for Tuesday's "Good Morning America." But the producers feared that he would bail, and sure enough, he stopped responding to messages on Tuesday morning. "He went dark," one of the sources said.

Nunberg's change in media strategy appears related to the change of heart that unfolded before a national audience during his media tour on Monday.



Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/06/media/sam-nunberg-interview-tour/index.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Maybe his lawyer wrestled him to the floor and slapped duct tape over his mouth.

Either that or he's in a padded room somewhere.

[Hortensis]

2. :) Family and friends waylaid him at home

and did an intervention. My interpretation, but sorta something like that. Didn't hear mention of an attorney, but they may have wrestled one who arrived with duct tape to the floor.

Ari Melber reported on O'Donnell last night that he called Nunberg at his home after the interview and that family and friends were there trying to talk him through this. He spoke with Nunberg and with his father, although what he and the elder Nunberg discussed is confidential. But dad was there with his son.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. Seriously, I got to wondering whether he might be bipolar

and all the stress triggered a manic episode. While I have no love for anyone associated with Trump, I would hope that if he has a problem like that he gets some help, because that was pretty weird.

[Hortensis]

8. Yes. I feel sure mental problem of some type is involved.

Personality disorders alone afflict about 1 out of every 11 people, after all, plus there are all those who just have strong traits of, plus all those with various other disorders that don't qualify as full-blown psychosis, like various manic disorders.

That antidepressant medication Nunberg mentioned could conceivably be 2 or 3 different meds, or perhaps this is Nunberg's first episode this bad. In any case, Mueller and his team are no doubt accustomed to triggering intense anxiety in its various manifestations. Money issues alone...!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

14. His interviews reminded me of something that happened to a friend some years ago.

He had a lot going on in his life, and he became more and more intense in conversations. Eventually he started talking nonstop then took off in his car, had a fender-bender and ended up being arrested, babbling non-stop. He had to be hospitalized and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He's fine now, lives a very normal life and has a good, responsible job. But he has to take his meds. Nunberg's somewhat incoherent interviews and especially the compressed speech seemed a lot like that.

[Hortensis]

20. Hmmm. So your friend went from essentially "normal"

to in bad trouble without a prior history. Did the really intense conversations and the rest happen in one day or ?

“They’re not going to send me to jail,” Nunberg exclaimed. “You know what, Mr. Mueller, if he wants to send me to jail, he can send me to jail and I’ll laugh about it, and I’ll make a bigger spectacle than I am on your TV show now.”

Sounded very self aware at the end, listening to what was spilling out of his mouth.

CNN Politics: In December 2016, Hope Hicks shared strong words on Nunberg with Politico. "He's a highly self-destructive individual who makes routine calls begging for his job back,"

Just imagine the trouble he could be in if they didn't do him the favor of firing him twice. Well, good bet he's getting help and in a lot better shape today. It's Tuesday, supposed to appear Friday. Mueller would have to give him an extension if Nunberg needed. His records may be in very disorganized and incomplete.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

23. He kind of unraveled over a period of time, but IIRC it wasn't a very long time -

maybe a month or two, and it was somewhat intermittent - at least that casual friends noticed. It didn't seem like there was anything wrong with him, just that he was pretty intense and excited about certain topics. Only after he had his breakdown did we realize what the problem was. Maybe Nunberg has been diagnosed but doesn't take his meds regularly, or else needs to have them adjusted. Sometimes it's hard to find the right ones that work consistently, and then to get people to take them.

[Hortensis]

25. Interesting, thanks. My only experience with onset

of problems was a fellow employee in a training program. She seemed fine at the beginning, a sweet, pleasant woman with a good attitude, but over a few weeks, with the stress of keeping up, she became worse and worse with experience, unable to perform to previous levels. We all tried to help and encourage her, and she wanted to continue even though she'd become quiet and lost her smile.

But in the last week her problem accelerated and took a strange turn as she first withdrew and then appeared increasingly hostile and paranoid over about 3 days, which she never was before, first toward the managers and the last day glaring at fellow trainees as if she'd figured out that we were sabotaging her. I spoke with her mom on the phone, explaining what we saw, and she didn't say it'd happened before, but it was obvious that there was some kind of emotional vulnerability and we didn't know enough to pick up signs that she could be headed for serious mental problems. I regret what she went through.

[global1]

10. How Soon Before Trump Has A Similar Meltdown?.....nt

[Libloom]

11. That's what I've been wondering

[apnu]

21. In the DU link below, Nunberg admits to taking antidepressants

But CNN's Erin Burnett says she smelled alcohol, which he denied. Its very possible he did have a drink plus the antidepressants, which is a bad combo.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142005194

[LisaM]

26. If she thought she smelled alcohol on his breath, she should not have put him on the air.

This is not the Mad Men years. This is a time when every potential screw up is magnified 1000% and can never, ever be removed from your record. This is a public that to a large extent never forgives and definitely never forgets.

I'm not saying that CNN thought he'd been drinking and knowingly put him on the air, but if they did, I think that's highly unprofessional.

[flibbitygiblets]

29. Normally I would agree with you. But these people have been lying through their teeth

about what is almost without a doubt collusion with a foreign adversary to defraud the American people of their constitutional right to choose their own leaders. He as much as said he knows Stone is going down, and he was (for a while anyway) willing to obstruct justice because the guy is his close friend.

These are not normal times. Let Drunky McDrunkface spill his guts for all the world to see, says I. Why anyone we save him from himself after all he's done?

[LisaM]

30. Because then what's to prevent them from doing this as a norm?

To me, it doesn't adhere to journalistic standards and I don't care who it is. This is not to defend anyone connected to Trump or people who've enabled him in any way, shape, or form. I just think that's something you address before you begin an interview, not during.

Just basic humanity.

[flibbitygiblets]

31. I'm not aware of hordes of people showing up drunk for TV interviews.

I'm not worried about this becoming a norm. Will we also expect journalists to stop people from simply saying something stupid or incriminating? Are we going to have them administer drug tests? Where does THAT responsibility end for the journalist/host, and begin for the interviewee?

Several people who interviewed him yesterday were asked if he smelled of alcohol. Most said he did not. That one lady on CNN said he did (actually she said she "had", which could be interpreted as past tense).

[LisaM]

32. I just didn't think it was a very professional way to conduct an interview.

If the interviewee is perceived not to be in good enough shape to be coherent, I just don't think anything's served by going forward with that person as the subject of the interview.

It also made it, ultimately, about her, and journalists injecting themselves into the interview is another new normal that I don't love (Alisyn Camerota jumps to mind in this regard).

But, that's just me. I respect your different opinion.

[apnu]

33. Its not moral, in a human sense, but it is certainly ethical in a journalistic sense.

It is not the journalists responsibility to stop a subject from drinking or spewing whatever drunken nonsense they spew. The journalist's job is to bear witness and report what is said. To ask questions, get answers, and leave it to the consumer of the media to decide what to do with it. Whole courses in journalism school revolve around this very thing. You have to let people be themselves, in whatever form that is, in all its beautiful or ugly glory.

Anything less is actually changing the events, filtering it. That they are not supposed to do. That is highly unprofessional, and I'm sure you are thinking of FOX News as I am right now. Yes they are unprofessional from a moral and journalistic ethics perspective.

[LisaM]

34. If the story is getting actual information, then I disagree.

If the story is watching a person unravel in the spotlight, okay.

I don't actually think he was drunk, though he may have been on some meds. I do think if someone comes into a newsroom clearly intoxicated or reeking of alcohol, that changes what the story even is - is it about getting information or the person's mental condition or ability to answer questions?

[apnu]

35. I'm just saying what I've learned about journalism ethics.

But I agree, he doesn't seem falling down drunk. However I've worked with drunks before, in the office and they've seemed OK until you get close.

This guy had a really wacky meltdown yesterday. I believe Burnett when she says she smelled booze, but I also believe Nunberg saying he was on antidepressants. My theory is he took some antidepressants, then took a drink or two, as people do, forgetting any possible side-effects with the two. And that's how his day got weirder and weirder until he crashed.

I figure today he's regretting that decision. He made a clown of himself and pissed off the whole Trump world.

[flibbitygiblets]

18. Fun fact: he IS a lawyer

or has a law degree and has worked in numerous positions related to law. So he must have been really drunk or mentally unstable to do what he did yesterday.

[apnu]

22. So is Cohen, who flat out admits he paid Stormy Daniels.

Not exactly smart legal team Trump has eh?

[lunasun]

3. Drugs wore off .... or finally kicked in

[Still In Wisconsin]

4. Hangovers can be a bitch.

Nunberg: "I said that?"

Friend: "You did."

Nunberg: "... "

[Wellstone ruled]

5. Appears the Legal System made a phone

call to this Clown. Roger Stone is going down and Sam the hanger-oner will have to get a Mac and Don's job when this is all done.

Watch for the New York State Bar Association start to pull people's Law License's.

[TranssexualKaren]

7. Here monkeys, ive got Shiny object for you....

How convenient that on the same day it was reported that our state department secretary was hand picked by the Russians, everyone was talking about this loser.

[FakeNoose]

9. It does look slightly calculated, what Nunberg did yesterday

I can't figure what's in it for him though. His goose is cooked, wouldn't you say?

[TranssexualKaren]

12. They saw to it that Scooter Libby was taken care of...

They can do the same for him,

[cilla4progress]

13. Poor

sick man.

[Javaman]

15. "Sam Nunberg goes dark", really bad hangovers will do that. LOL nt

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

24. I don't think it was alcohol - he was hyper and his speech wasn't slurred.

[Laffy Kat]

28. It sure looked like mania to me. nt

[CanonRay]

16. He's either

a) Sleeping it off.
b) Getting a psyc evaluation.
c} Both

[woodsprite]

17. It might depend on if the person answering the phone at his house had a Russian accent. n/t

[flibbitygiblets]

19. Ooh. Scary because it could be true.

[McCamy Taylor]

27. Media circus. His agent probably put him up to it.

There will be a lot of books and this stunt will increase the advance he can get for his.