Did You Miss the Heated Interview with Candidate Constantino?

First, I want to make it clear that this is my opinion of Anthony Constantino the political candidate - and it may or not be the opinion of my colleagues, the radio station, Townsquare Media or its partners.

Honestly, I know very little about this now former NY-21 candidate, except that we've had to listen to his commercials over and over again for the last two months proclaiming himself as the "chosen one" to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik.  Now, of course, Rep. Stefanik is not leaving her seat to become President Trump's Ambassador to the United Nations because of reported infighting between certain Republican county chairs, and also with the Conservative Party, spooked the White House to the point that they feared losing the seat because of the lack of a unified game plan.

Enter Constantino, who we invited on the radio this morning for a second appearance in order to get his feelings on spending all of his hard earned money advertising a special election that literally vanished into thin air yesterday afternoon.

During my interview with him today, I was able to get a better taste of this business person turned political know-it-all who seems to idolize President Trump, even maybe wants to be just like Trump, but comes off more like a cross between P.T. Barnum and a mid-level WWE wrestler who wants to pull off a stunt to create publicity for his brand. Today reminded me of a boxing weigh-in where one of the fighters takes a swing at his opponent in front of the cameras to hype the pay-per-view.

Honestly, I didn’t expect an explosive interview and for a very brief moment when it went bad, I felt like I allowed my temper to get the best of me. Thankfully, I regained my composure, but wasn’t going to allow him to manufacture a fiasco. I thought our first interview was good, tough, but fair  i guess I was wrong.

First, on both occasions, Constantino waited in the green room for his spot on the show and when we tried to bring him on the air at the precise opening, he said he wasn't ready and he had to run to the bathroom. So, and this happened both times he appeared, we held up the show and waited for him to make his grand entrance into the radio studio, which also is streamed live on YouTube. I'm not sure if he's dealing with a sensitive bladder or if he was looking in the mirror while giving himself a little pep talk before sitting down for the interview. Either way, it was odd.

The first time we spoke on air, he told us he felt like he was walking into a hostile environment as I questioned him and challenged him on some of his wild claims about himself, his polling results, and accusations about others who were vying for the House seat, including a candidate I supported, Joe Rutkowski. However, this second time was a bit different. I had joked after a radio contest that he was angry with Elise Stefanik because she stayed in Congress - and then I quickly followed that up with a reality check, confirming to him that I know he feels know ill will towards her. Shortly after that, the interview became contentious and he asked me to apologize to Stefanik for disparaging her. Clearly it was a joke, I explained, as he continued working to make an issue out of something that was obviously nothing. He then claimed that his last interview was unfair because I made fun of his poll, and other statements that he made. I have to say, no-one made fun of his poll. I just said he was the only one who was openly campaigning for the NY-21 Special Election because everyone else realized it was the county chairpeople making the decision on the Republican candidate, and not the public. Therefore, no-one else campaigned publicly so obviously they wouldn’t poll well. Furthermore, when a candidate does internal polling, commissions the poll, and pays for it, and then starts boasting about the results, journalists tend to give that poll less weight because it's not independent. Constantino also continuously made statements that couldn't be proven about his successes, his popularity with Trump and Stefanik, and with the Republican Chairs, and I felt it was my job to clarify a bit because his boasting claims weren’t verifiable.

During this interview, Constantine, who talked openly about owning a business in the Amsterdam area called Sticker Mule, seemingly came into the studio to create a fight so that it would score clicks on social media and I assume, garner attention to him that might make some people feel he's a maverick and willing to fight for what he believes in and that he backs down to no-one. Other people might walk away with a bad taste in their mouth thinking basically in laymen's terms, this guy is a jerk. He did specifically state during our heated exchange that he was creating good radio. Maybe he was right, but that wasn’t my intention.

But, all of this made me wonder what must Donald Trump and Elise Stefanik think of this self-over-promoting goon who acts more like a boxer ready to trash talk his opponent before a match, than a guy who is serious about helping to legislate America in Washington. In fact, the last time he was on he said being in Congress would be easy and that he had done far more challenging and difficult things in his life. I have to say, if being in Congress and getting things done is actually easy, I'm pretty confident that Anthony Constantine would find a way to make it difficult. Her certainly made his interview difficult today, and he didn't have to.

During the interview,  I asked him that if he really was Trump's top and only choice and FOX News is reporting that Trump lost confidence in the candidates and the chairpeople organizing the election, so much so that he asked Stefanik to stay in place out of fear of losing the seat, then what does that say about him?  It doesn't seem like in the eyes of Trump and Stefanik, Constantino is the super amazing slam dunk choice that he tries to tell everyone he is. Otherwise, wouldn't Trump have just put his foot down, stopped the bickering and said "quiet everyone," Constantino is my guy? Instead he bailed, leaving the sticker guru turned candidate to fend for himself.

If Constantino could learn anything from today it's that not everything has to turn into an altercation or a spectacle, and you don't always have to stay in character. If you do so at other people's expense, like he tried to do today, you sometimes end up looking like a carnival act that no-one ever takes seriously. Sure, we'll invite him back because I know we all love a good train wreck every once in a while, but I think anyone who listens or watches will have a tough time picturing him as a serious candidate for any office anytime in the near future. Then again, in this day and age, one never knows what's coming next.

Watch the interview below, via our YouTube Channel.