Rather, Trump used to be useful for Mika and Joe, and now he is not. Or, put another way, at one time he was on their side, and now he is not. At the beginning of the 2016 election cycle, the liberal Brzezinski already had her candidate, Hillary Clinton, who had seemingly locked down the Democratic nomination. Presumably, Mika thought Trump would be easy to beat. Scarborough, meanwhile, did not seem to have an obvious pick, but most certainly had a figure whom he strongly opposed: Senator Marco Rubio, who perhaps not coincidentally, is also from Florida, where Scarborough was once a Republican representative. And in Trump, Scarborough found a fountain of anti-Rubio sentiment.

Before long, Trump found welcome hosts in Brzezinski and Scarborough, who used him to get what they wanted. Indeed, while the other GOP candidates participated in a policy-heavy town hall in South Carolina, Brzezinski and Scarborough went to far as to host a competing “town hall” with Trump, during which, according to leaked audio from commercial breaks, the MSNBC hosts agreed to “make us all look good” and to throw “nothing too hard” at Trump’s way. They delivered on this promise. Among other things, Scarborough joined with his guest in delivering Trump-style insults about Rubio’s outfit choices.