Megyn Kelly’s first Today monologue on NBC made for uncomfortable viewing.

She’s not nearly as poised a host as she was an anchor and interviewer. She’s not in sync with the audience. She looks nervous. She is not relatable or winsome, both of which she suddenly — inexplicably — wants to be. It’s as if the old Kelly — sarcastic, cutting, sharp — got replaced by a President Trump-approved version that grins hard and just wants you to like her. She won’t talk politics! She promises! If this startling about-face tells us anything, it’s that Trump, Kelly’s tormentor, has won.

A while ago, I wrote about how Kelly — a polarizing figure if ever there was one — came off as the “victor” in her contest with the president and Fox News, whose CEO Roger Ailes she helped depose. (She’d be further vindicated when Bill O’Reilly was forced out of the network.) I noted then that Kelly seemed to bring out a “team” mentality in people on all sides of the political spectrum, even when the teams make no sense.

Kelly knows that. Likeability has long been an issue for her. In her book Settle for More, Kelly described how Roger Ailes’ assessment of her onscreen affected her after her first year at Fox: