'It is appalling': CNN panel stunned that Trump thought being president would be easier than reality TV

During an interview with Reuters on Thursday, President Donald Trump said he didn't realize that being president would be such a hard job -- in fact, he said he thought it would be easier than the job he used to have hosting a reality TV show.

A CNN panel on Friday reacted with disbelief that Trump really didn't comprehend the difficulties of being president, and panelist David Gregory found it "appalling" that Trump thought the presidency would be anything but difficult.

"It is also appalling that he has allowed himself to think, 'Oh yeah, I could have said all these things and I didn't know all these things and it is surprising how hard the presidency is," Gregory said.

Chris Cillizza explained that Trump is so surprised by the difficulties of the job because he had never held any kind of elected office before he became president, which meant that he was completely unprepared to face the challenges of being in the White House.

"He's never done anything like this before," Cillizza explained. "Being a reality TV star and being the face of this company he built, as opposed to a day-to-day details manager, is not the same thing."

Nonetheless, CNN's Chris Cuomo said the media shouldn't let Trump off easy for admitting that the presidency is a hard job, as during the campaign he told the country that fixing the nation's problems would be easy.

"The media should be slow, rather than quick, to reward Donald Trump for candor and vulnerability," Cuomo said. "He intentionally miscast issues to further divisions and build himself a base that allowed him to ascend in his own party. Now he has to own it."

Watch the full panel below.