By the end of the day on March 5, former Donald Trump campaign aide, Sam Nunberg, had made quite a few rounds of interviews by the networks even though it seemed something was not quite right with the guy either mentally or medically.
It finally seemed so exploitative that even the crew of The View felt the cable networks were being overly exploitive. Perhaps one of those rare times that The View seemed sympathetic towards someone who was in any way connected with the Trump campaign or administration.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Apparently, things got crazy awhile yesterday when former adviser to the new guy, Sam Nunberg, went on a media blitz, claiming he won’t honor Mueller’s subpoena and even claim the investigation may be closing in on the new guy in the White House. Take a look.
[clip starts]
SAM NUNBERG: I think that he may have done something during the election. But I don’t know that for sure.
KATY TUR: Why do you think that?
NUNBERG: I can’t explain it unless you were in there. The President is right, it’s a witch hunt. I’m not going to cooperate. Why do I have to spend 80 hours going over my e-mails?
[SCREEN WIPE]
ARI MELBER: How are you holding up? And do you want to take more time to think this through? Could you change your mind?
NUNBERG: I’m not going to answer something so wide as this. This is so ridiculous.
[SCREEN WIPE]
ERIN BURNETT: Talking to you, I have smelled alcohol on your breath.
NUNBERG: Well, I have not had a drink.
BURNETT: You haven’t had a drink?
NUNBERG: No.
BURNETT: So that’s not true?
NUNBERG: No.
[SCREEN WIPE]
This was followed by a long silent stare by Whoopi Goldberg who finally asked if the networks should have put him in the air in his condition.
GOLDBERG: Well, if Nunberg was a little out of it, should they have put him on the air if she smelled alcohol? Should he have been on the air?
JOY BEHAR: She didn’t know it.
AMBER TAMBLYN: As we all know, when you’re backstage, we’re not backstage talking to whoever the guest is going to be. She probably didn’t see him until they got on the air. Then she smelled a little schnapps or something. Who knows what it was, but it’s possible you would sit down in an interview and then go, ‘Something feels off.’
BEHAR: I think it was legitimate to say, ‘Are you drunk right now?’ Because he’s been rambling and acting combatively. It’s a wonder he’s not still working for Trump, though. That’s the amazing thing. I think it’s a perfectly legitimate thing to say, ‘Are you drinking in this interview?’
SUNNY HOSTIN: It felt a little exploitative to me. Just because that was the fifth time. He had already been on cable news. Someone must have thought something. Meghan and I were texting each other and I was like, ‘Is he sober?’ That’s the first thing that came to mind.
MEGHAN McCAIN: At 2:30 in the afternoon we were texting, ‘Is he sober or having a mental breakdown?’ I don’t want to call my own lawyer because he’ll charge me. I texted you to ask you what are the legal ramifications of what he’s saying and doing. The problem with this is the media gets so ahead of itself on the Russia investigation. Let Mueller play itself out. This is a protégé of Roger Stone. Anyone just Google how crazy that man is. He was fired from the Trump campaign 15 months ago and he clearly is a man having some kind of — he’s not in control of himself one way or another. I think there’s very gray ethics of having someone like that on television.
HOSTIN: He admitted he wasn’t drinking because he was taking his anti-depressants. It felt very exploitative.
Yes, very exploitative. However, if Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain were texting each other in the afternoon wondering if Nunberg was sober or having a mental breakdown, why did Erin Burnett act so surprised over his behavior later in the day? Or did she need Nunberg on her show in order to exploit his condition?
