“I’ve actually called him up and said, ‘Donald, listen, you need to speak in complete sentences at debates,” Scarborough said. “After the second debate … I walked into his office, I said, ‘Donald, do you know how to read? … I said, ‘You should read before a debate! … Read a paragraph on Syria, read a paragraph on education reform!'”

The anecdotes, which were meant as a testament to Trump’s off-the-cuff political savvy, drew laughter from the audience. But today, at NBCUniversal’s headquarters at 30 Rockefeller Center, Scarborough’s relationship with the Republican presidential frontrunner has become a subject of frustration among staff, and an increasingly problematic issue for the network’s top brass.

In background discussions, NBC News and MSNBC journalists, reporters and staffers said there was widespread discomfort at the network over Scarborough’s friendship with Trump and his increasingly favorable coverage of the candidate.

“People don’t like that Joe is promoting Trump,” one MSNBC insider said. Others described Scarborough’s admiration for Trump as “over the top” and “unseemly.”