‘This literally sounds like The Apprentice’: MSNBC’s Mika mocks Trump’s backstabbing administration

White House staffers are reportedly gripped with "mania" as President Donald Trump purges staffers he doesn't like, or who have been unable to secure clearance to view classified materials -- and MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski said the situation was "frightening."

The Washington Postreported that "anxious and nervous" White House aides have started a betting pool over which of them will be fired next, and the "Morning Joe" co-host said the president had his staffers right where he wanted them.

"This literally sounds like 'The Apprentice,'" Brzezinski said.

"That's what the president wants, and he said that," said host Joe Scarborough.

"All he knows how to do is produce reality shows," Brzezinski added.

Scarborough said leaks about possible White House shakeups were probably coming from the president himself.

"There's a war of leakers at the highest levels in the West Wing," Scarborough said. "It appears that somebody is saying (national security adviser H.R.) McMaster is gone -- somebody, lets's just say the chief of staff level or higher, and somebody else is saying, no, he's staying. What are we poor consumers of news supposed to read through all of this?"

Brzezinski said the president's approach to filling his administration with flunkies and TV personalities were harmful to U.S. interests.

"This is not casting, this is frightening," she said. "It is such a scary time, when you really think about this -- it's not funny."