 In a final apparent attempt to offer an olive branch of humor to Brzezinski, Brand quipped "this woman is a shaft grasper" after she appeared to nervously stroke her water bottle.Early in 2016, the show and its hosts were criticized for their support to then-candidate Donald Trump; Matt Taibbi described the hosts as "lapdogs" and their relationship as "brown-nosing".The criticism was further exacerbated by a hot mic recording published by Harry Shearer on his podcast, where Scarborough and Brzezinski discuss with Trump the positive coverage of him, and the possible questions the candidate could get in their upcoming interview.