‘Morning Joe' defends glowing Trump coverage: It’s my job to pick winners and losers

Joe Scarborough thinks political coverage ought to be more like sports broadcasting.

The host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe" complained Tuesday that viewers take him to task for predicting Republican primary victories for Donald Trump, reported Mediaite -- but Scarborough thinks he's just doing his job.

“Every time you predict that something good is going to happen to Trump in the polls, you get the e-mails, ‘Why are you in bed with a Nazi?” Scarborough complained.

He compared Trump to unemployed NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel, a former Heisman Trophy winner and first-round draft pick released by the Cleveland Browns in March due to substance abuse problems and domestic violence accusations.

“Johnny Manziel, he’s kind of a turd,” Scarborough said. “But if he’s playing for the NFL next year — he’s a jerk, he’s not nice to people. But every time he throws a 15 and out and makes a completion, I don’t want the announcer to go, ‘That’s Johnny Manziel, he’s horrible, a horrible person. He threw that 15 and out, but this next one he’s going to do badly because he’s horrible, horrible.’”

“Just tell me whether his team is going to win or lose,” Scarborough said, describing how he sees his own role. “You aren’t the pope, you aren’t Jesus. The voters will make the judgment.”

Scarborough said reporters and political analysts should stick to predicting who will win or lose elections, similar to pregame analysis on sports broadcasts.

"Yes, a quarterback is far different than a guy who wants to be president of the United States, but let the editorial page handle whether he's worthy of being president of the United States," he said. "Just give me the analysis, and nobody's been able to do it, and a lot of people have made fools of themselves over the past nine months because of it."

Watch an excerpt of the segment posted online by Mediaite: