Last night, a low-level former Trump aide was all over the networks. Acting erratic, angry, armed with little real information. Still, the media ate it up:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
SAM NUNBERG, FORMER TRUMP AIDE: I'm not going to cooperate. Why do I have to spend 80 hours going over my emails?
I think it would be funny if they arrested me.
By the way, I think my lawyer is going to dump me.
What do you think Mueller is going to do to me?
KATY TUR, NBC NEWS: You know, I'm not a lawyer. I don't know.
NUNBERG: Trump may have very well done something during the election with the Russians. And if we find it out, if he did that, I don't know.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN: 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. So that's not true?
NUNBERG: No.
BURNETT: Anything else?
NUNBERG: No.
BURNETT: No?
NUNBERG: No. Besides my meds.
BURNETT: OK.
NUNBERG: Antidepressants. Is that OK?
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
MSNBC called this whole thing historic, but for everyone else it felt kind of sad and odd. It reminds me of the footage we ran when someone freaks on an airplane flight. We air because it's so much fun to watch. Or when someone loses their temper in a store and shouting at a clerk, we air that tape because it's so much fun to watch. Just like high school, when a fight breaks out, we all crowd around to watch because it's so much fun.
Thanks to the plethora of cameras, the person among 300 million having a really bad day becomes a delightful segment. And it's obvious here. When it comes to news, we've lost perspective. In overdrive, to fill the daily recommended allowance of anti-Trumpism, everything becomes a banner headline including some poor guy acting manic of air either caused by drugs side effect, booze, or Roger Stone advice. Hard to tell the difference at times.
One newscaster accuses Nunberg of drinking just there. Well, if you smelled the booze on him, why did you have him on? Where the optics just too good or was it because he knew the guy was going to dump all over Trump?
The bottom line: we all love a good meltdown, real or contrived, until it's us doing the melting down. Then we hope to God there isn't a camera nearby because if there is, all compassion goes out the window.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox