'What The F*ck?' Former Trump Aide Sam Nunberg's Mueller Meltdown Leaves Friends Petrified

[DonViejo]

Source: The Daily Beast




Those close to Nunberg said they fear he was drunk while going on a cable news blitz.

LACHLAN MARKAY
ASAWIN SUEBSAENG
03.05.18 5:57 PM ET

Sam Nunberg, an early political adviser to Donald Trump, had a very public meltdown on Monday afternoon, repeatedly daring special counsel Robert Mueller to greenlight his arrest and insinuating that his old boss, the president, did indeed do “something” wrong during the campaign.

“You know [Trump] knew about it,” Nunberg said at one point during an interview with CNN, of the infamous Trump Tower meeting between campaign associates and Russian officials. “He was talking about it a week before...I don't know why he went around trying to hide it."

Rarely, if ever, has a political operative acted so brazenly when facing the very real prospect of being tossed in jail. Nunberg seemed not to care about how the chips would fall. But several of his friends told The Daily Beast they were concerned that he was putting himself in severe legal jeopardy by going on multiple live cable-news programs Monday afternoon.

They also said that they were worried Nunberg had been drinking prior to dialing in to MSNBC and CNN. Starting Monday morning, Nunberg began calling several close associates that he was flatly refusing, at this time, to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Three Nunberg friends said they walked away from those conversations fearful that he was “drinking again” and was about to embark on a personal tailspin. They didn’t know it would play out on daytime TV.

Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-the-fck-former-trump-aide-sam-nunbergs-mueller-meltdown-leaves-friends-petrified?ref=home

[Ahpook]

1. I heard the interview

Did it sound like a drunk on some sort of substance or an overdriven ego, power drunk asshole?

These motherfuckers think, and very well may be untouchable. I hope Mueller can burn this house of shit down

[SergeStorms]

18. Do you believe this numb-nut is......

actually an Attorney? He must be a graduate of the Trump University School of Law.

[Mr.Bill]

2. Well, I, personally

would like to buy him a drink. Anything I can do to help.

[TalenaGor]

6. hahaha!!!!!

[Blue Owl]

3. Squeal, Nunberg, SQUEAL!!!

[babylonsister]

4. Petrified? Is this the first time this man

surprised them?

[Gore1FL]

5. They need to take him up on his offer and arrest him.

He is a danger to himself.

He is a danger to (incriminate) others if he remains alive, as well.

Either way, the dude needs a safety intervention.

[Rorey]

10. On the other hand...

If he is realizing just how screwed he is, maybe the best thing for his own safety is to become very vocal and stay in the public eye.

And yeah, I think he's a big danger to others.

[Mr. Ected]

7. The alcohol angle is how FOX (and Trump) will spin this

They'll say he was under the influence and goaded on by the liberal media. Blah blah blah.

[lagomorph777]

34. Erin Burnett went there - told him she smelled alcohol on his breath.

[Hortensis]

44. It was a long, stressful day. Believable that he had

a drink, or two. NOT believable that this was under the influence of alcohol. We all know what that looks like.

I understand conservatives not wanting to recognize mental problems. Their religions AND social structure are built on the notion that people need to be rewarded for doing good and punished for doing bad. It all falls apart if at least 1 out of every 5 people are not always competent enough to be held completely, personally responsible (heaven, hell, freedom and prison all on the line here!) for their behaviors.

But what's the problem on DU? People here don't have those excuses, most of us anyway. Three solid years of watching Trump, and even time the subject comes up many people are still as obtuse as the typical conservative.

Why do people refuse to understand that mental disorders/disabilities/deficiencies are extremely common and are not only as real and pervasive as alcoholism, but often underlie alcoholism?

[lagomorph777]

45. Could be any combination of the above.

Personally, I believe that being a "Conservative" especially now, is a mental disorder.
I also believe that going on the air in a high-stakes situation, with alcohol on board, is folly. If it's enough to make you feel better, it's enough to affect your judgment, even if your speech and physical posture are visibly normal (to my eye though, he looked red like a drunk). And if there's an underlying personality disorder, or other problem with executive function, alcohol only make matters worse.

I have no reason to question Ms Burnett's sensory impression. Nor do I think being drunk is an excuse for being a RW jerk. Is mental illness a suitable excuse for being a RW jerk? I dunno; I guess we're getting into a vast gray area.

The dude apparently got tired of being called a crazy RW crook and went on TV to fix it. I suppose he did, in the sense that he's now known as a crazy RW drunken crook.

[Nwgirl503]

8. As someone who has been day drunk more times than I'd like to count since 11/9/16

I'd like to say that he didn't exhibit the signs I usually do. He was very polite to the woman on Ari's show who showed him down. He was seemingly functional on the call-ins I heard. I guess I'm just saying, he wasn't as big a shit-show as I am when I day drink, but that doesn't count it out. He must be way more of a functional drunk than I am, and I am questioning if that's possible. He said some shit, but not like any day drunk I know (or can be).

[BigmanPigman]

15. Erin used the PAST TENSE! She said,

"I HAVE smelled alcohol on your breath" not "I SMELL alcohol on your breath". He may NOT have been drunk. Ari Melber said he did NOT smell it on his show half an hour earlier.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. I know you have been going around saying this but...

Remember at this point in the interview, which came right near the end of the segment, the statement that she said just before was - "Talking to you..." and then she said "I have smelled....", meaning over the time that they have been together conversing. Said another way, the same as "while talking to you".

I.e, the interview must have gone on for about 20-some minutes with commercial breaks in between, so she most likely WAS "talking to him" during the commercials as well.

So IMHO, you are interpreting the "past tense" of the phrase going back too far in time and I don't know if she has ever interviewed him before "in the past" before last night's interview. So this doesn't mean that he wasn't "drunk", as he probably was. Maybe not slurring drunk, but probably enough where a shot or two was enough to take the inhibitions away. Heck, you can smell someone who has taken a couple sips of beer too, so something stronger is smellable and probably more potent.

[Cha]

38. Present Perfect Tense it is, BRDS!

Mahalo!

[BumRushDaShow]

40. He Cha - send some warm thoughts my way!

Nor'easter #2 coming tomorrow.

[Cha]

41. Oh no! On top of

everything else in our lives..

Stay safe and warm!

[BumRushDaShow]

42. Mahalo!

And those warm thoughts have been received!!!!

[Cha]

43. Oh.. a hug.. I need

one, too

[jberryhill]

29. It would make zero contextual sense to mean anything other than during this interview

[LisaL]

30. No she didn't.

She used present perfect tense.

[lagomorph777]

35. She said "We've been sitting very close together and I've smelled alcohol."

So she meant it as in "throughout the interview."

[LanternWaste]

39. Hanging your hat on Americans correctly using grammar when speaking will get you nowhere.

Hanging your hat on Americans correctly using grammar when speaking will get you nowhere.

[Cha]

9. Erin said she smelled alcohol.. so

he'd been drinking.. how far gone he was, is up to the beholder.. since he didn't take that breathalyzer.

[BigmanPigman]

14. No, she said, "I HAVE smelled alcohol on your breath".

That is PAST TENSE and she has been quoted incorrectly all day. I heard the interview live (here it is if you want to check for yourself). It is at :

As I Melber did not smell it on him 30 min earlier on his own show and he told Lawrence tonight that Nunberg is extremely stressed and that could account for his behavior today. I am not defending him, I am clarifying this statement by Erin Burnett.

[Cha]

16. Oh, wow.. thanks for the correction, BP!

She talked past tense.. ok. then nobody knows for sure why he was acting so strangely inconsistent today?

The 42 craziest quotes from Sam Nunberg's absolutely bonkers CNN interviews

https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/05/politics/sam-nunberg-analysis/index.html

[BumRushDaShow]

21. Hey Cha - see my post #20

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142005126#post20

The "past tense" wasn't really "past tense" but grammatically what they call "present perfect" -

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/present-perfect-tense/

I just remember back in high school the whole thing about the tenses.

[LisaL]

31. No, it's not past tense. It's present perfect tense.

[LisaL]

32. Only it's not past tense, it's present perfect tense.

Which can be used to describe something that started in the past and continues into present. Which in this situation would presumably mean she smelled alcohol throughout the interview.

[lagomorph777]

36. This is getting tense.

Seriously, we're quibbling over the precise tense she used? She made herself abundantly clear - in the context of "we've been sitting very close".

[Buttershrimp]

11. I'd be drinking

Glad I'm not that dude.

[BobTheSubgenius]

12. I have thought about this several times over the last few months

Many times, I came to the conclusion that things could not POSSIBLY get any weirder. So many times...and every time, I was wrong.

Today, things not only got weirder yet again, but someone, somehow, found not only another gear, but afterburners, as well.

[YessirAtsaFact]

22. It seems that the OrangeTurd administration can always get weirder, regardless

I wonder how many of Trump's minions crack up before it's over.

[leftynyc]

24. I have found

it's better to stop saying stuff like "it can't get worse" or "it can't get weirder". The universe seems to take it as a dare.

[nolabear]

13. Can someone please book him and Page together?

I may be having too much fun in a dire situation but I’d be fascinated.

[radical noodle]

17. I'd rather Roger Stone go down

and I think that's who Nunberg is worried about. Stone knew that WikiLeaks was releasing stuff before they actually did it.

[leftynyc]

25. He called Stone his mentor

(can you freaking imagine that lunatic being anyone's mentor?). I also think that's who he's worried about as he said it seemed Mueller was building a perjury case against Stone.

[lagomorph777]

37. Yes! Yes! YESSSSS!

That was exactly what I said to my wife! A cage match to the death!

[truthisfreedom]

19. Give this man a security clearance!

Now!

[DeminPennswoods]

23. Stress is pretty powerful

I think that was what was behind Nunberg's performances yesterday. Then again, on Hardball's panel they were saying that Nunberg loves the spotlight. They also all knew and had interactions with Nunberg and related that he says a lot of stuff and it can hard to figure out what's true and what's not.

[C_U_L8R]

27. He was smiling the whole time

I think he was enjoying the attention. Remember, he's one of Stone's ratfuckers, it's in his nature to sow chaos.

[lunasun]

33. +++Exactly !

[samnsara]

26. one host asked him if he was drinking.. she told him she smelled alcohol.. he said no..

..i dont know about you but i cant even talk when im drunk..he seemed to be talking 'ok'...

[beachbum bob]

28. I have never seen a mental breakdown done live on TV, perhaps nunberg is pushing that as

his excuse??? lol