Donald Trump‘s twice-fired former aide Sam Nunberg has no problem displaying his oversized ego in an interview on Manhattan’s upper east side with The Daily Beast‘s Olivia Nuzzi. Nuzzi, who profiled Trump’s campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks for GQ. In it, Nunberg describes himself as AMC Mad Men‘s Don Draper and Hicks as “his” Peggy.
Which puts Nunberg back in the 1950s when women didn’t fare so well.
“She was very cute, because she was very anxious at first about all of this,” he told me as he sipped a Thai iced tea at a restaurant on the Upper East Side. “I joked with her once, like, ‘You’re like my Peggy, like I’m Don Draper.’ ”
And on Lewandowski: “I literally will suck the fucking blood out of his skull by the time I’m done with him.”
The strangest part of the interview is that Hicks doesn’t agree to the interview. She does let Nuzzi in to speak to Trump with Hicks in the room as she questions the candidate about Hicks. In a word: Awwwwkward!
Still…the story works beautifully.
Even if Nunberg is annoyed that Nuzzi described his weight.
In a tweet Monday afternoon, called Nuzzi “sexist.”
In the story she writes, “A tall, heavyset man with slicked-back hair, Nunberg gifted Hicks a book, Running for Office. He nicknamed his new friend “Hopesicle” and quickly developed a fondness for her.”
Asked to comment on Nunberg calling her “sexist” Nuzzi told The Mirror: “Lol. I think it’s important to accurately describe the way people look, whether they’re male or female!”
Nunberg should be happy Nuzzi called him “nervy.” The Mirror exchanged phone and text messages with Nunberg, but wasn’t able to reach him by press time. If he calls back, I’ll bring “Don Draper’s” thoughts to you immediately.
UPDATE: “I am joking,” said Nunberg by phone. “I like Olivia. But have you seen your Twitter feed? Go look at Olivia’s feed. It’s always about sexual harassment, random men commenting on her. Someone should point out her hypocrisy. And now she comments on my weight? How sexist of her! Olivia is one of those reporters who screws you over but you’ll still talk to her. You’re better off talking to her than not talking to her.”
He added, “I’m on a 34 waist, so I don’t know what she means. I’m bulky not heavyset.”
True to her word, Nuzzi physically and mentally assesses most everyone in her story:
Hope Hicks: “The 27-year-old press secretary was clad in a teal dress, and she dug her stilettos into the colorless carpet as she showed me into the office, a room festooned with enough Trump memorabilia to suggest a serial killer’s shrine. …She is a hugger and a people pleaser, with long brown hair and green eyes, a young woman of distinctly all-American flavor—the sort that inspires Tom Petty songs, not riots. …A pretty young lady from a tony town.”
Michael Cohen: “Trump’s ball-busting attorney.”
Corey Lewandowski: “A short man with a shorter fuse.”