Donald Trump gave an extensive interview to BuzzFeed's McKay Coppins for a profile that published last week. The profile was not flattering. Needing someone to blame, The Donald exercised his overexposed catchphrase from "The Apprentice" on the aide who had set up the interview: "You're fired!"
Apparently Trump's aide Sam Nunberg had a personal relationship with Coppins and believed the proposed profile would therefore be a positive one. When BuzzFeed published a piece that portrayed The Donald as a petulant megalomaniac Nunberg was toast.
Trump's explanation, as told by New York Post:
"Sam said to me, 'This guy is a friend of mine. It's going to be a great story. I have confidence it will be fair.' So I actually did the interview as a courtesy to Sam. But I said to Sam, 'If this guy writes a fair story, that's fine. But if he writes a wise-guy story, you'll be fired.' And I said to Sam, 'OK?' And Sam said, 'OK.'"
Setting aside the wisdom of promising your boss a puff piece in the press, what's even stranger is Nunberg's willingness to fall on his sword for The Donald. Trump fired him, but he didn't have to. Nunberg explains: "I told [Trump] when he fired me, 'Sir, I'm willing to offer you my resignation.' He didn't accept that . . . this is not unfair, honestly. I failed Mr. Trump, and that's the long and short of it."
Trump was apparently hesitant to do the interview initially, saying, "I understand what BuzzFeed is." To the extent he was anticipating any negative press, he was probably expecting a gif of his hair flying away or something.
Apparently one of the reasons Nunberg expected a favorable piece is that Trump once let Coppins stay in his Palm Springs Mar a Lago compound when his flight got cancelled. "While I in no way think this gracious gesture should guarantee favorable coverage by Mr. Coppins, I do think it is poor form to accept to Mr. Trump's hospitality and then shit on him in print," Nunberg said.
Nunberg may be Trump's most loyal political ally — no one from either party has said two nice words about the guy in the last five years, say nothing of defending him after getting fired over some bad press. Trump may have made a serious error in judgement, here. Then again, we are talking about Donald Trump, the same guy who had no qualms tweeting about how lucky the Democrats were to have Hurricane Sandy as a distraction right before the 2012 election.
According to Coppins's piece, Trump is now upset that no one is taking him seriously for the role of New York's governor or for a presidential run. Hey, at least he still manages those fancy buildings. Oh wait. . .
This article originally published at Death and Taxes here
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