Sam Nunberg goes dark on Tuesday after his spectacular media meltdown
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
(115,659 posts)Either that or he's in a padded room somewhere.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)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
(115,659 posts)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
(58,785 posts)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
(115,659 posts)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
(58,785 posts)to in bad trouble without a prior history. Did the really intense conversations and the rest happen in one day or ?
Sounded very self aware at the end, listening to what was spilling out of his mouth.
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
(115,659 posts)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
(58,785 posts)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
(25,237 posts)Libloom
(31 posts)apnu
(8,750 posts)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
(27,800 posts)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
(7,220 posts)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
(27,800 posts)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
(7,220 posts)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
(27,800 posts)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
(8,750 posts)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
(27,800 posts)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
(8,750 posts)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
(7,220 posts)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
(8,750 posts)Not exactly smart legal team Trump has eh?
lunasun
(21,646 posts)Still In Wisconsin
(4,450 posts)Nunberg: "I said that?"
Friend: "You did."
Nunberg: "... "
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)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
(364 posts)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
(32,613 posts)I can't figure what's in it for him though. His goose is cooked, wouldn't you say?
TranssexualKaren
(364 posts)They can do the same for him,
cilla4progress
(24,724 posts)sick man.
Javaman
(62,510 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,659 posts)Laffy Kat
(16,376 posts)CanonRay
(14,094 posts)a) Sleeping it off.
b) Getting a psyc evaluation.
c} Both
woodsprite
(11,909 posts)flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)There will be a lot of books and this stunt will increase the advance he can get for his.