I saw some of the interviews. He reminds me of a friend who would tell me stories how he was recruited at university to entertain Russian or foreigner people who had entered the country. It seemed very far fetched at the time. The thing about this latest guy and my friend is that they are great talkers and performers. And the story is always about themselves. This latest guy is like a tightrope high wire act, balancing this way and that way, between credibility and incredulity. They give you things that you say “yes” that is true, or “no” that can’t be true (as the case of the FBI seriously investigating Hillary). You are constantly hoping to hear more in one direction and then they turn in a new corner and go in a different direction. But the bottom line is that it’s all about them and their glamorous life of political intrigue. They drop impressive names that give them a certain status — e.g., this guy talking about Warren Buffet and Milton Friedman as his personal gurus and his readings of Erasmus and John Stuart Mills. But this is something outlandish or rare and elevates himself in our eyes. He reaches for a his bottled water and says — quiet honestly — where is my “prop.” This is a performance. It is performance with a whiff of truth. How much is true? That’s a question I’ve always wonder about my friend. This guy might be selling anything: his company’s wares, his patriotism, his entertaining stories, his amazing knowledge but, ultimately, he is selling himself.
Byrne does seem like a bit of a self-centered drama queen. But then again, maybe that was a personal characteristic that made him an ideal tool for the “men in black” to exploit.
While his story seems fantastical, and his personal circumstances are strange, Martha Maccallum states early in the interview that “we did some asking around and we have indications to believe that your story is indeed credible”. So at least some portions of his “tale” have probably been substantiated.
Another interesting thing about Bryne is his invoking Warren Buffet’s name and essentially bringing him into the story. It would seem that Buffet would have tried to immediately distance himself from this guy if he thought that Byrne was a crackpot.